Nirvana
by Everybeast
Summary: In the fight against the Phoenix King Saffron, Ranma is inexplicably struck with a horrible pain deep within his core. As the world fades to darkness, he is transported to a place unlike anything he has ever seen. A place that quickly begins to have a serious effect on his mind. A Ranma/Pathfinder (DND) Crossover. (Rating may change as chapters are posted.)
1. Ch1 The Last Day of Your Life

**Nirvana**

A Ranma/Pathfinder (DnD 3.5v2) Cross. Remember to peruse the footnotes for semi-important info/shit that will keep you from getting too confused.

* * *

 **Chapter One: The Last Day of Your Life**

* * *

It had been growing for a while now, ever since Ranma got his hands encased in the material that formed Saffron's egg. The stuff had made his hands feel tingly and somewhat numb.

The morning before the battle that feeling had disappeared, replaced with a tense knot deep in his chest. It was somewhat uncomfortable, but nowhere near painful or serious enough to let anyone know.

When Akane had been turned into a doll, it had grown larger, making it slightly harder for him to catch his breath. A dull throb pulsed along with his heartbeat.

At the point where his battle with Saffron had just started, it had escalated significantly. It disoriented him slightly with every throb of pain. His breath had become ragged and labored. At that point, he had realized that it was escalating faster and faster and the longer he fought, the more it became difficult to remain coherent. He was aware that he was rapidly nearing his limit.

As the fight was taken into the sky, his arms and legs were shaking. He struggled to breathe and his eyes were beginning to lose the ability to focus on his target. He now realized what was causing the intense feeling: every time he used the Gekkaja, every time Saffron blasted him with one of his fireballs, and every time water from the Jusendo spring hit him, he could feel the feeling grow faster and faster and pulsate ever more painfully.

As the doll of Akane flew through the fireball, allowing him to deal the killing blow to the phoenix, he was barely able to see anything around him. His strength had left him. He and doll-Akane dropped into the overflowing spring that had been destroyed in the fight.

He, or now a she due to the cold nature of the water, had barely enough strength to lift her head above the water. Her vision blurred horribly as she looked around for Akane. Her limit had been reached, and the pain pulsating in her chest had become unbearable. She wildly looked around, her strength giving out on her several times as her arms buckled underneath her time and time again. Her blurred vision made it nearly impossible to see what was around her.

Her arms shook wildly in protest of being used. She could feel her muscles spasm uncontrollably. Sounds seemed to echo around her, muted and impossible to understand. She thought she heard someone yelling off in the distance. There was a metallic taste in her mouth.

Finally, she managed to focus her eyes enough to see the body of a person laying face up in the water not too far from where she was. She weakly tried to crawl through the water towards the person she hoped was Akane. Her body, however, refused to allow her to move, and she collapsed into the water again. As she struggled to lift herself again out of the water, she felt someone grab onto her. The pain started to leave her body, replaced by numbness and overwhelming fatigue.

As she was flipped over, she saw the blurry image of who had grabbed her. A large black and white blur slapped her in an attempt to get her to refocus. The pain of the slap barely registered over the now overwhelming pressure that now felt like it threatened to cause her body to burst apart. The blur began to shake her violently and was soon thereafter joined by other blurry figures. One or two of them moved in the direction of the body she had previously seen.

Ranma blinked her eyes slowly and drowsily.

And everything went black.

* * *

Slowly, reality began to return. Birds were chirping off in the distance.

She opened her eyes to see a beautiful blue sky above her. Clouds shaped like spirals twirled and bent across the sky. From around her head she could see long reeds and grasses.

Sitting up slowly, she found herself within a great field of grass and flowers. Looking around, she saw a small village and two large forests. Off on the horizon rose a huge mountain chain situated between two glistening lakes. All around her she saw people rising up from the ground much like she was. Some were simply standing there, looking around, others stood with their arms spread as they basked in the sun, others were meeting up and talking to each other, but the majority simply seemed to simply be wandering off in different directions.

The entire area seemed saturated with a peaceful vibe. Everything was pristine. Everything was perfect. From the way the sun warmed the earth, to the light breeze that brought the smell of wheat and flowers. The way the clouds stretched towards the horizon.

Perfect.

Slowly, she stood, unsteadily for a moment. Glancing around one last time, she started to walk towards the small village.

As she walked, she began to think.

" _Where the hell am I? Last thing I remember..."_

She suddenly stopped walking.

" _Whoever that was in the water… was it Akane? I lost her when I fell…. Gods I hope she's okay."_ She crossed her arms and stood there for quite some time, lost in thought, _"What was that feeling…?"_

She shivered as she remembered the pain, causing her body to ache. Soon, the feeling passed, washed away by the (somewhat peculiar) calming nature of her surroundings. She glanced back up towards the small village on the horizon.

" _Might as well head towards that village and see if anyone knows where I am,"_ she thought, _"And hopefully find a way back."_

With that thought, she begins to quickly move towards the small settlement.

It took several minutes to walk there, even at the slightly faster than normal rate Ranma was traveling. As she neared it, she could see the finer details of the village.

It seemed about the same size as the amazon village of Joketsozuko and was very similar to old European medieval villages. Farmland completely surrounded the settlement and she passed by at least two dozen people working in the fields; most had waved or greeted her if they happened to catch her eye, to which she would halfheartedly wave back.

Or at least she thinks they were greeting her, she didn't understand a word any of them were saying. The language they spoke was one she had never heard before, and she had heard quite a few while on her nearly life-long training trip with her father. She couldn't speak any of them, but she would have definitely recognized them.

They had been smiling as they said it though, so...

" _Great, they all speak nonsense,"_ Ranma thought with an angry pout, her stride showing equal parts confidence and confusion with just a hint of unsettled nervousness, _"Hopefully I can find someone here who speaks good old normal Japanese. Ha, fat chance of that."_

For what appeared to be a small farming community, she saw that the town was getting more and more crowded and lively as she neared the center of town. After passing by a few stores and shops; or at least she thinks they were shops as they were filled with either food or weird knick-knacks and bobbles she couldn't recognize; she saw that there was a hustling and bustling bazaar situated around a rather large, ancient well in the very center of town.

" _Whoa,"_ Ranma thought, _"This place is kind of a freak show."_

Most of the people in town were at least somewhat normal looking. Many seemed like perfectly normal people while the rest looked like over-enthusiastic cosplayers, and almost all of them were dressed like they were in some sort of renaissance fair. Some people were really short and broad while others were lithe and had long pointy ears. Some of them seemed relatively normal but they stood at half the height of normal people. One or two people she passed even had green skin and small tusks protruding out of their mouths.

And all of them were speaking nothing but jibberish.

"Ugh," Ranma sighed, out loud this time, "This has got to be some sort of wacked out dream or something. How can I get directions out of this place if I can't understand anyone?"

Her thoughts were interrupted by a particularly loud voice coming up behind her.

"Ahahahahaha!" A deep baritone voice laughed heartily, "Faunra! Durin hardorth vas lodis! Ah-HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Harsk!" A womans voice called, seemingly embarrassed at what the other voice had said, "Set adall! Nes fuer a dunin ra…."

As the voices continued to talk and near her, Ranma suddenly felt one of them pat her on the shoulder rather hard. She rocked forward slightly, having to take a step forward to keep her balance. She glances to the person who owned the offending hand.

Said man was actually only about 4'5" and sported a thick braided red beard. His build was extremely burly, being almost as wide as he was tall. He wore what Ranma could only describe as old-school fantasy style armor and had a large axe strapped to his back.

"Usto!" he said, pointing up at Ranma's confused face, "Dujona man sayio, nah?! Ah-hahahaha!"

Ranma simply stared at him.

"Harsk…" the womans voice came again, "Mano na tavisne man sayio."

Ranma glanced to see a fairly tall woman whose build seemed to be completely opposite of her companion's. She had a thin, almost fragile build and flowing platinum blonde hair that flowed around two impressively, albeit inhumanly, long and pointy ears. She wore a long deep blue robe and carried a long staff.

Both people carried packs, the lithe woman carrying a smaller one with several pockets filled with different mismatched odds and ends; everything from small sticks to leaves and even a few metal and wooden objects; while the short man had a much larger pack filled with several pouches filled with food and several more weapons.

Ranma simply blinked as she stared at them. They, in turn, looked back. After a few moments, the man's smirk fell slightly while the woman raised an eyebrow.

"Heh heh," The man said after a few moments, "Juno eiy dontak an idiot or somethin'?"

Ranma blinked.

"I don't think she can understand you, Harsk," the woman said.

Ranma glanced back and forth between them rather rapidly. Suddenly, they had randomly started to make sense, and that confused the hell out of her. Mainly, this is because they were still speaking the same language as they had been in the first place; it was as if a switch had been pressed that suddenly enabled her to understand the nonsense language.

"Aye, I think so, Faunra. Ye'd think tha' most people would be able ta speak Common," The man, Harsk, said with a frown, "And her skin tisn't dark enough ta be from tha Underdark."

"Perhaps she is from Rokugan," Faunra said, "Pity that neither of us speak Rokugani. Poor thing must not have been taught Common, you know how some of the lower class citizens are often ignored by local lords out in the boonies."

"H-hey!" Ranma protested out of habit, "I'm no lower class anything!"

The two looked rather surprised at that. Ranma did as well. That hadn't been Japanese she had said, but the same gibberish that everyone else had been speaking.

"So ye do understand us then," Harsk said, "What was with all da starin' then?!"

"Harsk," Faunra said, "Even if she does understand us, she still seems quite confused."

"Aye," Harsk said, "Then wha's got yer head in a bumble then, girl?"

"Hey, I ain't no girl!" Ranma protested, the comment snapping her back to reality.

"Obviously, Harsk," Faunra said without skipping a beat, "You must remember that humans come of age much faster than either of our kin. She certainly seems to be over fifteen, the human adult age. How old are you, dear?"

"Uh…" Ranma paused for a moment, "Eighteen."

"Where ye be from, lass?" Harsk asked.

"Well…" Ranma glanced around, "Before I ended up here, I was in China."

The two of them looked confused.

"Can't say I've heard of that territory," Faunra said, "Is that a city in Rokugan?"

"N-no," Ranma answered, "China isn't a city, it's a country. And I've never heard of this Rokugan place."

"It's the land of the east. They have many interesting warriors and adventurers there," Faunra said before pausing. She placed a slim finger on her chin, "Oh dear, I've forgotten what they were called."

"Hmm…" Harsk nodded, "Aye, many a dwarf had adopted the way of the Samurai."

"Yeah!" Ranma said, "We have those… or actually, used to have those; we still have one that's pretty messed up in the head. I don't know where you got this Rokugan word or anythin'. I'm from Japan."

"Jay-pan?" Harsk asked, horribly mutilating the word with his accent, "No, no. I'm pretty sure there isn't any Jay-pan on the maps. You from the outer planes?"

"Oh dear," Faunra suddenly gasped, after which she paused for quite some time. She then suddenly blushed, "Oh my, where are our manners, we haven't even introduced ourselves. My name is Faunra Morningleaf, this is Harsk Druskar. It is a pleasure."

She did a small curtsey while Harsk hit his fist upon his upper chest.

"M-my name is Ranma," She said, bowing.

"Tell me Ranma," Faunra said, "What… what were you doing before you came here?"

"Doing?" Ranma said, looking down, "Fighting. Some uppity phoenix kidnapped my… uh… fiancé. I had to fight him to save her."

Faunra's hands went to her mouth again as she and Harsk exchanged a glance.

"Aye," Harsk said, "I'm of the mind that you're right, Faunra."

"Poor thing," she said, looking at Ranma.

Ranma glanced at them.

"What?" She asked.

"You were fighting, and must not of noticed it until it was too late," Faunra shook her head.

"What do ya mean, didn't notice?" Ranma asked, a sickening feeling suddenly entering her stomach, "Didn't notice what?"

"Didn't notice what would be natural in that situation," Harsk crossed her arms, "A young lass fightin' a phoenix without weapon and armor wouldn't last very long."

"You saying that I lost?" Ranma asked, looking angry at that, "I didn't lose. Sure, he was trying to kill me or whatever, but I got him before he could get me."

Her eyes went distant after that.

"I killed him…" She said, "but I… I passed out, I guess. Something happened."

She gripped her stomach where she could still almost feel the dull throbbing pain. It was accompanied with a light headed feeling, momentarily making it difficult to concentrate. It was like a rush of energy suddenly enveloped her.

It lasted for but a moment before vanishing as quickly as it came, leaving her in a highly confused but somehow very peaceful state.

"Hey," she said after a moment, "Where the hell are we, anyway?"

"We're in Nirvana, lass," Harsk said, "In the small hamlet of Worry's Rest. Faunra and I are here to witness the games."

"N-Nirvana?" Ranma asked, looking extremely confused. She crossed her arms and thought furiously, _"I thought Nirvana was like some sort of crazy state of mind business or whatever. I've never heard anything about there being a place named Nirvana. How the hell am I supposed to get back?"_

At that point, her facial expression had soured and her hands were clenched into fists.

" _Damn it!"_ She mentally yelled, _"None of this makes any sense! How the hell did I end up way out in the middle of who knows where when I was just in China?! Nothing around here looks even remotely Asian! Hell, nothing around here looks like anything I've ever seen! It all looks like some story book fantasy shit! The short guy even called himself a Dwarf! A Dwarf! And I guess little miss toothpick traveling with him is some sort of faerie or elf or something! This is just so…! So… so…."_

At that exact moment, another wave of energy suddenly rushed over her body. All the anger and anxiety that had plagued her was suddenly gone, leaving her mind blank for a few moments as a sort of mental peace was suddenly placed upon her. All her cares seemed to disappear. Her body started to list lazily to the left.

It was just like before, yet many times more powerful.

"Oy, Lassie!" Harsk's deep voice suddenly called out, causing Ranma to flinch before quickly regaining balance, "Ye all right? Ye look a bit flushed."

"Ah," Ranma said, suddenly nervous for reasons she didn't currently understand and blushing furiously, "N-nah. I'm good. Just a bit… tired? I dunno. I feel all weird."

"I… I don't think you have anything to worry about," Faunra said, rather nervously, "It is probably just the… process all petitioners in Nirvana go through."

"Petitioners?" Ranma asked, "What're those?"

"You don't know?" Faunra asked. Ranma shook her head no, "Well… as I said, I wouldn't worry about it. You'll find out on your own soon enough."

"Aye," Harsk said, "In tha mean time, why don't ye come along with us to the games held over in Kurgess' Field?"

"Games?" Ranma asked, looking confused, "You mean like soccer or something?"

"No, no," Harsk said, "What in bloody hell is a soccer? Bah, anyway, tis a competition for those who wish to prove their strength and skill. Both mortals and immortals alike join in."

"You mean like a martial arts competition or something?" Ranma asked, suddenly very interested in these 'games'. She didn't fully register Harsk's last statement.

"Aye," Harsk nodded, "Not just monks, but fighters, paladins, rangers, and anyone else who wants to test their mettle at the edge of a sword."

"Awesome," Ranma smirked, "You gotta sign up or something?"

"I don't believe so," Faunra said, looking kind of worried, "You don't mean to enter the ring yourself, do you?"

"What do you mean by that?" Ranma frowned.

"Well, it's just that you're not even equipped for combat," Faunra said, "With no weapon or armor, how do you plan on winning? I know that monks tend to shun armor, but even they have proper equipment."

"Pffffh…" Ranma waved her off before clenching her fist, "I don't need no weapons or armor, I'm Ranma Saotome of the Saotome school of Anything Goes Martial Arts! Ranma Saotome doesn't lose!"

"Ah-ha!" Harsk laughed his deep gruff laugh, "Ye might be a skinny, frail lookin' human but ye got the spirit of the mountain folk, true enough!"

Harsk then started to laugh loudly as Ranma blinked, not really sure how to take that. She notices Faunra was giggling lightly. Faunra, after a few moments, noticed Ranma's confused look.

"Don't worry," Faunra said, "Harsk isn't one to mince words. That's the closest thing you'll get to a compliment from him."

"Uh…" Ranma said, rubbing the back of her neck, "Thanks… I guess."

Harsk then patted her shoulder a few more times.

"Come on then!" He yelled, "We've got blades to cross and pride to humble! To Kurgess' Field!"

* * *

To the east, across Kurgress' Field, across the river and through the Forest of Dancing Figments, there is a great tower, well decorated yet humble, that stretches into the skies of Nirvana. Its walls a beautiful white, its windows stain glass portraits of heroes of legends long since forgotten to the tides of time.

A young man travels quickly through the brush towards the tower. His claws on his hands and feet bite into the ground to propel himself forward. He wore a simple blue tunic over which he wore a brown leather vest, simple blue pants and white wrappings around his feet. His belt, the only fancily made piece of clothing he had, was light leather embroidered with golden thread; from that belt hung several small talismans, charms, and pouches filled with various things. A flute the color of the green trees was tucked into the back of the belt.

The young man himself was not by any means a normal human man, but a Vulpinal: an anthropomorphic fox, appearing to be in his young twenties. Standing a rather tall for his species 5'4", the young man was covered in a fiery coat of fur and had a tail as long as he was tall. His brilliant blue eyes shined as he raced through the brush on all fours towards his goal.

As he neared his destination, breaking through the foliage into the clearing surrounding the tower, he slowed and popped up onto his hind legs. He hastily brushed his clothing off, trying to rid himself of the small sticks and leaves that had gotten attached to him within the forest. His haste cost him however, as his right foot tripped upon his left, sending him sprawling to the ground in front of the tower.

"Ow," He muttered before being harshly pulled to his feet by one of the tower guards.

"You alright, Zirul?" the guard halfway chuckled.

"Yeah," the young man said, "Thanks, Korin."

Korin was an older looking Vulpinal with a silvery coat. He wore a shiny yet completely decorative set of mithril armor. The armor itself was buffed to a mirror sheen and was covered with golden plates, medallions, and insignias; it was compact and minimalistic, comprising only of a breastplate, gauntlets, and leggings. He wore a dark brown outfit underneath the armor and a flowing white robe over it.

Truthfully, guards in such a place as this is completely traditional and serve no real purpose other than as a formality. Nirvana was a paradise, altercations only happen in an orderly way; such as the games of Kurgess' Field; though rarely due to malign forces encroaching into the sacred realm from the Maelstrom that exists beyond its borders. Mostly, the guards are there as greeters and criers; with exception to those who guard Nirvana's borders. Those were manned only by the strongest and the bravest.

"You seem to be in a bit of a hurry," Korin chuckled, "Have some business with the Lady?"

"Aye," Zirul nodded, "Taramyth said that she had a mission for me. I'm kinda anxious because it's the first time I'll get to be leaving this place since I got here."

"Finally letting you loose, then?" Korin laughed, "I'm sure you'll do fine. On your way then."

Zirul waved a goodbye as he entered the large doors. He quickly crossed the lounge area; most of the area was filled with that of a great stage situated in the very center of the room and was surrounded with places to sit and relax. Often, great musicians and grand plays are performed for the amusement for all who came.

As fast as he could, Zirul climbed the stair case that spirals up along the outer wall of the tower. As he climbed the last few stairs towards the top floor a large set of wooden double doors came into view, each with beautiful windows made of swirled glass and wood stained a deep crimson. Slowing as he approached, he reached out and unlatched the door, swinging it open slowly.

"Uh…" he called, pocking his head into the room, "L-lady Taramyth?"

"Ah," a voice came from behind a privacy screen situated on the far side of the room, "It is good to see that you've finally arrived, young one. Please, come in."

Zirul stepped into the room, closing the door behind him with a small click. He glanced around as he slowly walked into the room. Although he came to Taramyth's tower nearly every day to see performances or occasionally perform himself, he had never been in the Lady's private quarters.

Taramyth's personal quarters was one huge room that took up the entirety of the top floor of the tower. Books, scripts, and scrolls lined the walls, stuffed into ancient dark wood bookcases. Paintings of things, places, and people Zirul had never even imagined were placed around the room, dividing the bookcases up every twenty or so feet. Various musical instruments sat and hung from their stands at points all throughout the room. There was a large lounge chair near where a privacy screen stood; a small table sat next to the chair and had quite a few books stacked upon it. A comfortable, but rarely used bed was situated not too far from where he now stood.

His attention was drawn away from the room as he noticed he could see a shadow coming through the privacy screen, informing him that Taramyth had been in the process of getting clothed when he had arrived. A blush came to his face, albeit a very difficult to see blush due to the red fur on his face.

Eventually, Taramyth came from behind the privacy screen, prompting Zirul to avert his gaze, which had been locked onto the screen. He laughed awkwardly as he scratched the back of his neck.

Taramyth stood an impressive 6'1"; made even more impressive due to Vulpinals' normally short stature. Her fur coat was a rich red orange and her eyes shone a brilliant golden. She wore a simple yet elegant seafoam green dress that was only slightly transparent, over which she wore a corset. Her hair was pulled into a long, high braided ponytail. She smiled warmly at him as she walked to the lounge chair and sat down. She then beckoned him towards her. He hastily moved over towards her.

"It is good to see you well," She smiled, "I have very important things to discuss with you."

"Y-yes, my Lady," Zirul halfway stuttered, to which Taramyth laughed lightly, "A-anything I can do, I-I will!"

"There is no need for formalities," Taramyth said with a smile, motioning towards a small wooden chair with crimson cushions beside her, "Please, sit and relax."

Zirul complied, blushing again. Even so, he was still buzzing with excitement.

"I am glad to see that you are excited about your mission," Taramyth said, "It is a very important one, one that will effect much more than you probably realize."

"Yeah, well," Zirul said, nervously, "I mean… uh… I was kinda confused when I heard you had a mission for me. Normally it's either the Leonals or Avorals that go on missions."

"Indeed," Taramyth smiled, "but unlike the missions given to our larger and stronger kin, this mission does not require strength of combat, but strength of mind and keen wits. You could even say that it is more of a diplomatic mission."

"Diplomatic?" Zirul asked, looking confused, "Eh-heh. I'm a little lost, here. I mean, I'm not really good at talking to people. Well… not when I'm telling the truth anyway. Hell, before I came to Nirvana, my mouth got me in trouble all the time."

"Yet even with your faults, Kelumarion, Korada, and I believe that you are the best chance for success," Taramyth said, "There are grand things that had just started to be set into motion, and we are in need of a… representative in the mortal world in question during the process."

"The other lords…?" Zirul asked, "Me? I mean, I can't think of any place in either the inner or outer realms that doesn't know about us. I mean, sure the material plain may have a whole lot of people that don't know about Nirvana but…"

"Not the material world you came from, Zirul," Taramyth smiled even as she interrupted him, "But another. One that has been disconnected from the other realms for untold ages."

"Another… material realm?" Zirul asked, "I thought there was only the one material realm."

Taramyth smiled before standing up. She motioned for Zirul to walk with her as the made her way towards a large book set upon a large gold and ivory podium. Zirul glanced upon the book as they approached it.

To call it simply a large book would be a gross understatement. The book was nearly four feet long and three feet wide and contained what Zirul estimated to be hundreds and hundreds of thousands of pages. The book was bound with deep brown leather and had several golden symbols engraved upon it.

"This book contains all the knowledge that has ever been collected by all Vulpinals throughout time," Taramyth said as she waved her hand, causing the large book to noisily open itself, she flipped a few pages before coming to a familiar diagram, "This is the universe as most of the people here know it. The material plane situated in the middle, connected to the inner and outer sphere of realms by the Shadow and Astral Planes."

"But what most people do not know," Taramyth continued, "Is that there are many other material places, many more than even the gods could count."

She pointed far off from the diagram, to a small circle identical to the material plane situated in the center of the page.

"Every pin prick of light in the night sky is a burning sun, just like the one of our material plane," Taramyth said, "And for each one it is possible for another material plane to exist, populated by its own people and separated by the great expanse of the void. Many of them have an inner sphere of elemental planes and an outer sphere of divine planes just like we do here, but many of them do not."

"But…" Zirul contested weakly, "But the inner and outer spheres are what make life possible! How can life exist without them?"

"Those that do not have their own spheres of elemental and divine realms are connected to those of others," Taramyth told him, "The one in question was long ago populated by the souls from our own cycle of life and death, but was then separated when a huge cataclysm rocked their world. For untold ages, we have had no indication that life could even continue in such a place, but as of recent, the connection has begun to return. As of a few hours ago, the first petitioner to come to Nirvana from this world in countless ages arrived just outside of Worry's Rest. This is where you come in."

"Me?" Zirul asked.

Taramyth nodded, "This petitioner is… a special case, in more ways than one. First off, this person is completely removed their own existence. They are no doubt highly confused and unsettled by their sudden appearance here. You, in your previous life before you came to Nirvana, had experiences in dealing with the truly unknown and unknowable, which is one of the reasons why you were chosen for this task."

Zirul looked off as she mentioned his previous life. His expression fell as memories he had long wished to be forgotten rose to the forefront of his mind.

"Also, the petitioner in question should not even be here," Taramyth added.

"What do you mean 'shouldn't be here'?" Zirul asked, "Were they supposed to go to a different realm?"

"No," Taramyth said, "Nirvana is more assuredly the realm that this particular soul was destined for. The reason is that, unlike every petitioner to be recorded to have come here, this particular soul has not yet left its mortal coil."

Zirul thought on that for a moment.

And came up with nothing.

"H-how is that even possible?" Zirul asked, "I mean, if they're still alive, their soul wouldn't have any way of getting here! Not as a petitioner, anyway."

"We do not yet understand the full truth of the situation," Taramyth told him, "However, we are certain that without someone to explain these sorts of things, this individual may hurt themselves."

There was a small pause in the conversation. Taramyth watched as Zirul seemed to be struggling with himself.

"A-are you sure about sending me?" Zirul asked, "I mean, I only got here fifty years ago and I've only been a Vulpinal for the last twenty! I don't know anything about this sort of thing."

Taramyth simply smiled.

"I have faith in you," She said, placing her hand on his shoulder, "You must find this person and make sure they return to their own world. You must also go with them to that world. Learn of that world so that we may help them."

Zirul looked off for a moment. He would've been lying if he said the idea of going to a new, unexplored world wasn't the most awesome idea he'd heard in quite some time.

"Alright," He said, causing Taramyth's smile to broaden.

"Then go," She said, "I believe that your best chance of finding this lost soul is to head towards Kurgess' Field. They will have no doubt strayed there and should be easy to find as their clothing will be quite peculiar."

Zirul nodded and quickly moved towards the exit.

"One last thing," Taramyth said, causing Zirul to stop as he was halfway out the door. Taramyth walked over to him and handed him a small object, "This should allow the soul to go back to its body as well as allow you to follow it. Time is of the essence. You know the effects of being a petitioner in this plane."

Zirul nodded.

"Now go," Taramyth said, "Seek out the soul of the one named Ranma Saotome."

* * *

She knew she should be excited about being at quite possibly the largest and grandest fighting competition that she had even heard of, and she was. She was having more fun than she had had in a very long time. But… she wasn't acting the same way as she used to be at these situations anyway, and that troubled her. Sure, she had played it off as just feeling a little weird and had handed three dudes their own asses already in the games, but there were no insults, no impolite goading.

That, and her mind kept wandering erratically.

Every few minutes, it felt as though she was being pulled away from herself. Or at least that's the best way she could think of describing it. Any thought in her mind would suddenly disappear and a weird almost uncomfortable wave of peace would come over her. It had nearly cost her a match and her head. Luckily she snapped back just in time to dodge a slash towards her neck by a man with what he had called a full blade.

She had taken Harsk and Faunra's advice and was taking a break from competing. She was now currently wandering around the area. She had discovered that if the village was a freak show, this place was a freak carnival. More crazy looking people that she could count flooded the area.

Her picks for the weirdest looking ones were the group of dudes that were made out of rock, the crazy looking purple skinned woman who was had countless spikes coming from her skin, a group of dark furred dog people, and that mostly naked winged woman with the lower body of a snake.

Every time her mind seems to go blank, she felt as if she was losing something. It made her want to get angry, it made her want to punch something, but the peacefulness that comes with the temporary mind blanks turned that anger into utter confusion. The fact that this place felt kind of like she should be here didn't help. It was making her think of things in ways she had never even considered.

For one, she had been aware of her currently female state for some time now, but she had yet to attempt to turn back into her birth form. From all the spells and mojo stuff the people around here could throw off, she was fairly certain a good number of these people could conjure a glass of hot water from thin air. She felt as if it didn't really even matter anymore.

Of course, she was moderately aware that it was the weird mind blanks that were making her feel that way, but try as she might she couldn't bring herself to try and fight them. Every time they happened, she could feel the knot deep within her growing smaller and smaller. It was as if a weight was being lifted off of her shoulders.

Eventually, and almost without realizing it, Ranma had walked a small distance away from the carnival and was now sitting along on the side of a hill. She hugged her knees close to her chest and buried her face in her arms.

She wanted to be angry. She felt as if she should be sad. But she didn't and she didn't know why. And that just made it worse.

She heard the sounds of someone coming through the grass towards her. She ignored it like she had all the others. Already a dozen people had passed her by and she expected this person to be no different.

She was wrong.

"You Ranma Saotome?" A man's voice came.

She looked up to see who had addressed her with a bland expression on her face. She saw the small fox man known as Zirul standing in front of her with a dorky smile on his face.

" _Okay,"_ Ranma thought as she stared at him, _"Here's another person to add to the list of the weirdest looking people I've seen since I got here."_

Zirul sweat-dropped a little.

"I'm not that weird looking," He rebutted, "Maybe you just don't have Agathions or something where you're from."

Ranma arched an eyebrow, but said nothing.

"Eh-heh," the fox man laughed nervously, "I'm Zirul. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Ranma stared at him for a moment before responding.

"Ranma Saotome," She said, "But you knew that already."

"Uh… I-I did, yes," Zirul said nervously.

"Well?" Ranma asked, "What do you want?"

"I, uh…" Zirul said, "I was sent here to take you back to where you're supposed to be."

Ranma sighed as she looked down. She didn't say anything.

"Hmm…" Zirul said, confused, "I had halfway expected you to be excited about getting back home. Is something wrong or something?"

"No," Ranma said looking up, "No…. I'm just a little… I dunno, stumped."

"Well, yeah," Zirul said, "In your situation, I'd think that anyone would be confused."

"My situation?" Ranma asked with the first real tinge of anger she had felt for hours now as she glared at the fox, "What the hell do you know about my situation?"

Zirul raised his hands in a surrendering motion as he chuckled nervously.

"Obviously I don't know that much," He said, wondering why she would react like that, "But I do know that you were randomly transported here from your world and I know how we can get back."

"'My world'?" Ranma asked, her anger dying down slightly, "You saying this is a different planet or somethin'?"

"Precisely. Well, not so much a planet as an alternate plane of existance," Zirul smiled for a bit before his smirk drooped a bit, "One that can have an effect on certain people's minds. Effects that I believe you should already be experiencing."

Ranma shot a glare at him at that. Zirul didn't flinch; he had halfway expected it. Her anger disappeared a few moments later.

"This place is really fucked up, you know that right?" Ranma muttered.

"I…" Zirul looked a little put off by that, "I haven't heard anyone describe it in quite that way, no, but I do think I know where you're coming from. It is different from your everyday run of the mill countryside, but it is home."

" _Home… almost wish this place was my home too... everything is peaceful here… no one gets on my back or any of that other shit while I'm here… none of the craziness…."_ Ranma thought with a sudden sting of hurt in her heart. She didn't say anything for a few moments, but she eventually continued, "You said you could take me back? I was kinda doing something important."

"A-aye," Zirul said, his face serious. His thoughts raced, _"She feels deep pain when she is reminded of home. What could have caused her so much pain? And why would she want to go back to it?"_

His thoughts were interrupted when Ranma stood up.

"Alright then, fox-guy," Ranma said, causing Zirul's fur to ruffle up a bit at the 'fox-guy' comment, "You gonna lead me back to China or not?"

"Q-quite," Zirul said, frowning a little at the girl's brash behavior. He quickly dismissed it, not feeling as though he knew enough about her to make judgments. He then began to go into one of his belt pouches for the item Taramyth game him, "I was given something to aid us in getting back to where you need to be."

"You coming with?" Ranma asked, turning away from him.

"Would that be a problem?" Zirul asked as he kept searching for the item. He had been in such a rush he had forgotten where he had absentmindedly placed it.

"Nah, not really," Ranma answered, "With all the crazy shit that goes down in Nerima I doubt a fox-guy is gonna make anyone's head turn."

"We prefer to be called Vulpinals," Zirul said blandly.

"Whatever," was her only response.

Zirul looked at the girl's backside for a few moments, _"How did she become so… bitter? I'm beginning to think I was chosen for this job because something knew I couldn't just leave this well enough alone."_

He continued to look for the object he had been given and, after a few seconds, he found it.

"Here we go," He said, prompting Ranma to turn around. Zirul held the object out for her to see.

Ranma looked at it for a moment.

"Okay, so what the hell is it?" She asked, looking at the oddly shaped object.

The object was only two inches in length and consisted of a clear cylinder with a silvery blue liquid inside of it. On either end of the cylinder there were ornate golden caps, one with a simple pointed design and the other with the motif of a snarling animal.

"It's simple," Zirul said, "You just… uh…"

Silence pervaded for a moment.

"Now that I think about it, Lady Taramyth never told me how to use it," He said plainly.

"It's got a liquid inside it, so maybe you're supposed to drink it," Ranma offered blandly.

"Maybe," he said, "But if you drink it, how am I supposed to travel with you?"

"Then we'll both drink it," Ranma replied.

"Don't be preposterous," Zirul said, "That wouldn't make sense."

"A lot of things don't make sense," Ranma supplied, "See, look, there's a little thing you can press so the stuff can come out of the little animal piece."

Zirul turned to the girl and stared for a few moments. He then sighed.

"Fine," He said, reaching into one of his pouches, pulling out two small shot glasses. He then poured the liquid equally into them.

"Cheers," Ranma said half-heartedly before she downed the liquid, "Guh. Tastes like alcohol and mixed with shit."

"Alcohol is actually rather common in potions," Zirul supplied, smacking his lips a few times from the rather strong flavor, "To mask the flavor of the more unsavory ingredients."

"It didn't work too well in this case."

"Quite."

A few moments went by. Nothing happened.

"Maybe…," Zirul said, "Maybe we weren't supposed to drink it. I'm not feeling anything, are you?"

He looked up at Ranma.

Ranma had a blank expression on her face. She wasn't moving or blinking. In fact, the only thing she was doing was glowing.

Silvery blue lights suddenly burst from her and started to swirl around both of them at high speeds. The wind around them started to whirl into a frenzy.

Soon, it became too strong for Zirul to keep standing in one place. Only by dropping to all fours and digging his claws into the ground did he manage to stay in one place.

Suddenly, as soon as the winds appeared, they started to draw towards Ranma, who had been glowing with greater and greater intensity. Zirul's left hand dislodged from the ground and he found himself unable to put it back.

"Whoa!" He yelled. Now at a severe disadvantage, he could do nothing as the wind caused him to slam up against the girl.

Or at least, he would have slammed into her, had she not disappeared in a blinding flash. Zirul was sucked into the flash and disappeared as well.

The wind returned to normal and aside for a few patches of torn earth, there was no evidence to say that they had ever been there.

* * *

Pain. The tense knot in her chest had returned with an angry fury. And with it, darkness. An all-consuming darkness. But in the distance, she could see a pin point of light.

Thankfully, this lasted for only ten or so seconds before the light enveloped her. She practically threw herself into it.

The next thing she knew she was thrashing around on a bed in a strange, sterile room. It took a few seconds for the pain to stop and for her to relax.

"Doctor!" The voice of a startled woman came, "Doctor! She's awake!

* * *

CHAPTER END

* * *

Most of the things in Nirvana are official and in the literal pathfinder books, so I can't claim any ownership of them. Taramyth is also within the book, as is her tower, but it had a serious lack of information about them, so I had to create their style and personalities off hand. Zirul, however, is mine, as in, I made him on a character sheet and played as him during a horror campaign. He wasn't a Vulpinal at the time however, so this story takes place after his death. He's a Sorcerer with the Celestial bloodline. He's a half-elf that was actually born and raised in Worry's Rest, but then was transported at a young age just outside of a city on the material plane, the city of **Ravenwood**. That name carries a lot of weight when it comes to crazy shit and hardcore character death in my play group.

Oh, and I gave Ranma some literal stats, a la Pathfinder Core Rulebook. I can't show them as I've given him some stuff that will happen later in the story. I will however tell you that, after looking to the CR (a stat that determines the relative power of an enemy, their Challenge Rating) of a Phoenix; which turned out to be a CR 15; so for Ranma to defeat Saffron by the narrow amount he did Ranma himself would have to be _at least_ a **15** **th** **Level Monk** , more than likely much higher as CR typically takes into account the heroes fighting as a team of roughly 3-5 people **.** Which is pretty substantial being as the classes only go to 20 before one gets to EPIC LEVEL, the point at which you become powerful enough to challenge the gods and the very few epic level monsters that exist, including the Jabbawock (which can only be killed by getting a critical hit with a vorpal weapon, the most powerful and expensive enchantment there is) and the Terrasque (which can't be killed at all).

A Full Blade is a huge sword. Think Cloud's Buster Sword a la Final Fantasy VII.

Ranma's picks for weirdest looking people at the games were a group of earth genies known as Shaitan _(the dudes made of stone and a type of Earth Genie)_ , a needle-folk woman _(the purple skinned spiky woman)_ , a group of hound archons _(dark furred dog people who happen to be celestial creatures)_ , and a Lillend _(the snake woman who also happens to be a celestial creature)_ respectively. I realize that many of you have no idea what these things are and I am amused by that fact. I thank you.

Oh, and if you're wondering, yes, Vulpinals can read thoughts.


	2. Ch2 Life Is But a Dream

**Chapter Two: Life is But a Dream**

* * *

"Ranma awoke about five hours ago quite suddenly," A doctor said as he led the Saotome adults towards the room that held the red head, "Scared the daylights out of one of our nurses."

"How is he?" Nodoka asked, worry evident in her voice.

Nodoka had been a nervous wreck for the entirety of the three weeks Ranma had been in a coma. The entire time Ranma had been lapsing between several different states of health and stability.

When Ranma had arrived at the hospital, carried by the Hibiki boy of all people, she had been shifting back and forth between male and female at random for two to three hours at a time, only to remain stable for a few hours before it started all over again. Her internal temperature fluctuated wildly, dipping well below and well above lethal temperatures. Her hair had grown more than a foot at that early stage, and now passed well past her waist. It was actually discovered that the doctors could not shorten the hair; if clipped, it would regrow to fit the length of the rest of the hair almost instantaneously. At several points she had died only to either be revived, or for her heart to start beating again all on its own. Currently, the doctors were at a loss as to how any of this was possible.

Apparently, this process had been happening almost since the very moment she fell unconscious. Cologne, who had cared for Ranma during the travel back to Japan, had made her own deductions.

The series of events that led up to Ranma falling unconscious had saturated her with more magic than her body was capable of bearing. It had eventually reached a critical point, at which it caused every curse or magical capability Ranma had to go haywire. The three most obvious were the dragon's whisker, the phoenix pill, and the Jusenkyo curse; thus, her hair grew, her temperature varied wildly, and her curse became uncontrollable.

She had said that right from the beginning that Ranma seemed to lapse into and out of death. Her life force, however, had never left the body; her body just seemed to be going onto a strange sort of hibernation.

Due to her unstable state, the doctors hadn't allowed many people to visit the comatose Saotome. The only people that were allowed to visit Ranma had been his parents, and only then they could only stay for a few minutes at a time before being quickly, yet politely, nudged out of the room by the hospital staff.

"She is stable, and seems to be completely unhurt, a perfectly clean bill of health." the doctor said, "She has hardly said anything; most of the time she will simply nod or shake her head, and then other times simply not responding whatsoever. She appears to have suffered from a serious bit of trauma of some kind. She claims it was some sort of vision or dream."

"Why are you calling our son a she?" Genma asked, his expression sour.

"When Ranma finally stabilized, it was in her female form," The doctor answered him, "After examination, it seems that her curse is… locked, you could say. No matter what the temperature of the water was, the staff has been unable to initiate the change. Even when she gave permission to use boiling water, she hadn't given any indication of pain. Going off what we've been told of the... curse, she is unlikely to be able to change back."

The Saotomes stayed very quiet for a moment.

"Can we see… her?" Nodoka finally asked.

"Of course," the doctor said, and motioned for them to follow him.

"Ranma?" Nodoka asked as she carefully opened the door.

Ranma was sitting up on her bed, dressed in a hospital outfit, simply staring out of a window. She turned to the door as Nodoka entered, a surprised yet distant expression on her face.

"Mom?" She asked.

Nodoka quickly moved to hug her. Ranma did not react at first, her expression still distant. After a few seconds a look of realization came to her face and she slowly returned the hug as her mother started to cry silently.

After only a few seconds, Nodoka had recovered and simply smiled at her. Ranma simply smiled back.

A small movement near the door caught her attention.

"Pop?" She asked.

Genma seemed very nervous. When he heard Ranma, he had to steel himself.

"It is good to see you unharmed, son," Genma said as honestly as he could.

Ranma simply smiled again.

"Thanks, Pop," She said simply.

That caught Genma off guard.

* * *

A good distance away, on the top of the famous Tokyo Tower, a young fox-guy stood on the very edge of the building, looking across the city.

"I know Lady Taramyth said this world might be weird, but I never expected something like this," Zirul growled, "How the hell am I supposed to find her in all this?!"

He steamed there for a few moments before managing to calm down.

"Okay, stop, think," He mumbled, "As far as I can tell all those lights and vehicles down on the ground aren't magically driven. None of this stuff is. Seems to be mechanical or something."

He thought on that for a moment.

"That might put me at an advantage here," He muttered to himself, "Shouldn't be too hard to blend in with a good polymorph spell, and they all seem to be human, so that makes it even easier. I should be able to find out where this Nerima place is."

He nodded. He then crossed his arms with a serious expression on his face.

"And I need to know why she was so bitter," He said, "I need to know more about her situation if I'm to explain all the shit that happened to her. I know how it feels to lose yourself to Nirvana. Suddenly finding yourself removed from something like that could be… unpleasant."

He stood there a small moment before he stepped off of the building.

* * *

Ranma was released from the hospital only a few hours after her parents had arrived. The doctors assured them that she had been stable for quite a few days now; albeit still unconscious; and that there doesn't seem to be any danger of her lapsing back into such a violent state.

It surprised Genma when Ranma didn't protest to having to ride in a wheelchair out of the hospital. There wasn't any of the bravado Ranma was known for, no claims that she was fully capable of walking on her own. She simply stood up out of bed as she would any other day, got dressed in an outfit her parents had brought, and willingly sat in the chair.

It was late as Ranma arrived at the Saotome home with her parents. She stepped out of the taxi they had gotten and proceeded to stare at the house for a few moments. Nodoka paid the driver as Ranma and Genma began to walk up to the house.

Ranma was wearing one of her traditional red silk shirt with yellow ties and a pair of black silk pants. Her mother had helped in braiding her long mane of hair into a much longer; and Genma would say somewhat more feminine; version of her traditional pigtail.

Nodoka and Genma have had a serious discussion about where Ranma would be staying. Genma, of course, wanted her to go back to the Tendo Dojo. Nodoka had refused, saying that Ranma should be at her own house. Genma had rebuked with the fact that Ranma went to school in Nerima where the Tendo home was. Nodoka finally gave in, but had required that Ranma stay at home for a week to recover, something the doctors had recommended doing. Genma found that he was unable to argue.

"Coming Ranma?" Nodoka asked, looking back at her.

"C-coming!" Ranma said as she quickly ran to catch up.

As they entered the house, Ranma immediately began to wander around the building, looking at everything as if it was the first time she had seen it.

Almost everything was as she remembered it. Several of the pictures she didn't recognize, although something told her that she should recognize them.

This confused her. Many of these pictures left her with a sense of peace; others cause a small sting of hurt to enter her heart. She did not dwell on those pictures, forcing them from her thoughts.

Nodoka had gone to place her bag where she normally put it, leaving Genma to simply stand there and watch their 'son'.

Ranma's actions had been very atypical since she had awoken. Most noticeably was her silence. She seemed to constantly be lost in thought. Her bravado had yet to rear its head and, while she was still not very polite, she was also nowhere near as rude as she normally was. Her insults had been replaced by a severely blunt honesty, mixed with a small bit of sarcasm.

Genma wouldn't admit it, but he was very worried. The doctors had called it a trauma, but Genma thought differently. As far as he could tell, the 'boy' stilled moved as a born and bred martial artist, never anywhere near off balance.

Whatever had happened to her had to have happened in the fight with Saffron, which he himself somewhat witnessed, or had something to do with this 'vision' the doctors had mentioned.

Although it had appeared that Ranma had started to suffer from premature fatigue while fighting Saffron, he still defeated an opponent that Genma knew he would've been extremely hard pressed to fight. As Genma didn't have many of the capabilities Ranma had, most notably a high tolerance for heat, he would not have stood much of a chance of winning such a fight, even if he had employed his sealed techniques.

What Cologne said about him becoming oversaturated with magick had the ring of truth to it, although he was uneasy about trusting anything the amazon ghoul said, no matter how much it seemed to make sense. If you could call it sense. Genma knew little of the mystic arts; for all he knew she was just attempting manipulation again. The doctors had given her a clean bill of health, so she didn't have any sort of amnesia or brain damage.

Which again led him back to her 'vision'. The doctors said that she had mentioned it in passing to one of the nurses, but they hadn't gone into any sort of detail. If he was to learn anything of the vision, he would have to ask Ranma directly. He sighed before going over to sit at the family table.

"Ranma," He said as he sat down.

Ranma stopped what she was doing and looked at him.

"Yeah, Pop?" She asked.

"I need to talk to you," He said, displaying very little emotion.

Ranma quirked an eyebrow, but came over and sat at the table.

Genma studied the girl for a moment. She had sat down upon her knees, as a normal girl typically would, placing her hands in her lap. It, while possibly not intentional, spoke volumes to Genma. His 'son' had changed quite a bit in her three week long coma, and the only thing that could possibly make sense in causing that change was this vision.

Ranma simply sat there, looking back at Genma with a plain face. After a few minutes, she quirked her eyebrow and looked at him confused.

"Weren't you gonna…" Ranma asked, smirking slightly, "Ya know, talk to me or somethin'?"

Ranma saying this wasn't really all that unusual; it was a typical smart-ass Ranma phrase. But instead of the normally condescending tone that would have come with it, there was only a slight hint of amusement as she nearly giggled the last part.

This caused Genma to frown, causing Ranma's expression to fall as well. She continued to look at her father, rather confused by the silence.

"The doctors told us that you claimed to have some sort of odd dream while you were unconscious," he started, looking up at her. Upon mentioning this, Ranma looked down with a confused and somewhat disheartened expression. Genma struggled with deciding what next to say: something to denote his concern without actually coming across as being concerned, "Y-you're mother has been worried with you acting so strangely. The doctors said that this might have something to do with that dream."

Nailed it.

Ranma, by the time he finished, was twiddling her fingers nervously as she looked off.

"I…" Ranma said, "I don't know if I'd call it a dream. It seemed far too real to be a, ya know, a normal dream or somethin'. I mean, you know how you normally can't remember much about dreams? But for this, I remember everything perfectly."

She looked off for a few moments. A sad expression came across her face.

"And is this dream the reason why you've been acting like a girl?" Genma asked. This was his first trap.

Hopefully, Ranma would rebuke loudly and passionately that she wasn't a girl, but a man! A man amongst men! A fight would more than likely ensue, which would last for a few minutes until one of them gained the upper hand.

Ranma, however, failed to produce. She simply looked embarrassed at the question. She also seemed to notice how she was sitting, yet she did nothing to change it. She simply fidgeted and looked bashful.

Genma's frown deepened.

"Tell me about this dream," He said simply and seriously.

Ranma almost cringed under the scrutiny.

"It was…" Ranma started, "Weird. Surreal. I remember meeting people and this weird little village that was kinda like the amazon village back in China."

Ranma then perked up.

"Then there was this fair or carnival or something," She said, again looking at her father, smiling excitedly, "There were warriors and fighters all over the place. They had armor and shields and swords and axes and stuff. There was a competition and I totally kicked these three dudes' asses! The first one was this big lookin' dude with an axe. That one hardly lasted ten seconds."

This made Genma feel a small bit better. He had been worried that whatever had happened had had an effect on Ranma's obsession about martial arts.

"But…" Ranma then said, her expression falling, causing Genma's mood to sour again, "In my third fight… I had been having these weird mind blanks or something. It felt like… like pieces of me were being… taken away or something. I don't know how to really describe it. A-anyway, that happened midway through the fight and the guy almost took my head off with his huge sword. I-I still won though."

Ranma had hastily finished that phrase, trying to pull attention away from the whole 'losing pieces of herself' thing. She laughed nervously.

That didn't last long. Her expression went sober again after a moment, and she returned to staring off into nothingness while nervously fiddling her fingers.

Nodoka had noticed the conversation and now stood behind a corner, silently listening to the conversation.

"After a while…" Ranma continued, "I wandered away from everyone and sat in the field. Then this weird guy came up to me, talking to me like he expected me to be there. He said that I wasn't supposed to be there yet or something and gave me this weird potion to drink. He said it would let me come back here and allow him to follow me. So I drank the potion. That's when I woke up in the hospital."

She paused, unsure as to what else to say.

"It…" she said after a moment and still looking very unsure as to what she was saying, "It was so weird… I felt like that place…. That place kinda felt _right_ for some reason. It felt like home."

Nodoka put her hands over her mouth at that. That phrase frightened her, more than anything she had ever heard. It seemed to solidify her fears that Ranma was going to leave her.

Genma simply watched as Ranma slumped forward, looking somewhat miserable. He stayed stoic. While what Ranma had said had settled a few of his fears, it had not only solidified other fears, it had created whole new ones. The last thing Ranma had said had unsettled him as well.

Putting such emotions aside, he decided to remain firm.

"You'll be staying here for a week while you recuperate," He said suddenly, causing Ranma to look up at him, "Afterwards you and I will be heading back to the Tendo's."

Ranma's face had soured intensely as Genma said this. That sourness was almost immediately replaced by a worried look. She had forgotten what she had been doing right before she fallen unconscious at Jusendo.

"H-how is Akane anyway?" Ranma looked up with a worried but hopeful expression.

Genma smiled. It appeared to him that his son was still very attached to her fiancé.

"She is fine, she awoke soon after you had gone unconscious and barely said anything on the way back," Genma said, "I am sure she is anxious to see her fiancé again."

Ranma smiled as she heard that Akane was alright, but she had flinched as Genma said the word fiancé.

Nodoka decided that now would be an appropriate time to enter the room. She did a last minute spot check of her person before she walked out.

"Why don't Ranma and I make a visit to the Tendo's tomorrow afternoon?" She said as she walked over to stand slightly behind Ranma, "We need to get some of Ranma's clothes for the rest of the week. We could head over around noon so we can pack and sit with Soun and Kasumi until the others get home from school."

"An excellent idea, dear," Genma pounced on the situation before Ranma could object. His efforts were unneeded, however, as Ranma didn't protest. She seemed surprised and nervous about it, but remained silent.

"Why don't you go get a bath and get ready for bed," Nodoka asked her child, smiling reassuringly at her, "You need to get plenty of rest this week, so no staying up late or anything."

"A-alright Mom," Ranma said, standing slowly.

Genma and Nodoka waited until they heard Ranma close the door to the furo down the hall. They glanced at each other. Silence prevailed, as neither of them knew quite where to start.

"I am afraid, Genma," Nodoka finally said, "Ranma seems so… distant."

"The boy is a tough one, Nodoka," Genma reassured her, "He will be fine."

"You really think you can find a way to let him change back into a boy?" Nodoka asked.

Genma nodded.

"Of course," Genma said, "We just need to find a way to lower his tolerance to heat. If we can do that, he'll be able to turn back and marry Akane."

Nodoka stayed quiet for a moment.

"What…" She started, "What Ranma said…. I can't but feel like… like we almost lost him. That place he described…."

Genma nodded slowly.

"I understand what you mean," He said as he stood from the table, "But don't worry, I'm sure it was just a dream. Nothing important."

Nodoka looked down for a moment before nodding.

"You're right," She said before she turned and started to leave the room, "I'm going to get ready for bed. Goodnight, dear."

"Goodnight," Genma replied with a pang of guilt.

When he had reassured his wife, he had lied to her in attempts to calm her nerves. In truth, he felt just as uncertain as his wife.

What Ranma had described did sound like a general description of the afterlife.

* * *

Ranma dumped a small pail of cold water over her head, washing the soap and shampoo from her face. She blinked a few times as to make sure no soap got into her eyes. She slowly sat the pail on the tiled floor beside her.

She sat there for a few moments, lost in thought. A few droplets of water ran down a few strands of crimson hair that dangled in front of her face.

Talking about the weird 'dream' with her father hadn't helped with her attempts to sort out everything that had happened for herself. Having to quickly and abruptly come to conclusions for the sake of easing her parents' minds hadn't just interrupted her train of thought, it had completely derailed it.

Not that she thought she had succeeded in easing their worries. She wouldn't have fallen for any of the things she had said herself.

She shook her head for a moment, trying to rid her mind of the cobwebs that muddled it. Slowly standing, she made her way to the bath, hesitating before slipping into the heated water.

She wasn't a stranger to being female in warm water, being as she had been locked as a girl several times since she had acquired the curse. On most of those occasions, the situation was either one of panic or irritation; either she was freaking out about just then finding out she was stuck or royally pissed off about being reminded that she was stuck.

Now that the situation had once again come to pass, the distinct lack of either of those two emotions unsettled her. Or rather, she felt that it should. The fact that she was more or less completely okay with the situation was what was truly unsettling her.

The idea of being permanently stuck as a girl had been one that filled her with anger and fear. Angry at her father for taking her to that accursed training ground and at all the people who came after her because of her feminine form and afraid of losing her manhood and (potentially) her life to the honor blade that her mother nearly always carried around with her. When her parents had arrived at the hospital, it had been one of the very few times she had ever seen the woman without that damn cloth bundle in her arms.

She closed her eyes and tried to relax a little. This was a lesson in futility, however, as her thoughts would not be dissuaded. Her mind continued to be preoccupied.

Everything seemed to lead back to that weird dream or vision or whatever you wanted to call it.

She sighed. The more she thought about it, the more difficult it came to believe that her visit to the place known as Nirvana was simply a dream without any real consequences. Rationally, such a place couldn't exist; it had to of been a simple fever dream or something. She wanted to believe that more than anything.

Except the more she tried to convince herself of that, the more confused she became. An internal war waged in her mind. Part of her wanted to believe that nothing had changed and that everything would return to normal. That part of her wanted to get angry about being stuck as a girl, to burst from the furo in a fury and seek the nearest potential cure. She wanted to proclaim her manhood and kick the ass of anyone who called her a weak little girl.

She tried to become riled up the best she could, repeating over and over again in her head, " _I'm a man not a girl. A man not a girl. A man not a girl…"_.

After a few minutes of this, however, she simply sighed and drooped down into the furo until only the upper half of her head was visible. Her eyes were tightly shut. As much as that part of her wanted all of this stuff to just go away and return to normal, another part of her would have nothing of the sort. A part of her that she was slightly scared of.

That part of her knew that nothing would ever be the same, yet it offered no indication as to what would come next. That part of her found getting angry and rushing off towards some random cure that would more than likely backfire just like it always did to be useless. It all seemed so… pointless.

That part of her wanted to leave all of this behind her. Nerima, the Tendos, Furinkan… she wanted to leave everything behind.

But she couldn't. Her sense of honor wouldn't let her. Even as she wanted nothing more than to disappear and find her way back to Nirvana. Everything there had been perfect and simple, even if she did find it a bit strange and unsettling. She knew that what awaited her back at the Tendos residence was nothing but more chaos and more pain. She wanted nothing to do with it.

But she knew that she would willingly walk back into the chaos.

She wrestled with that thought for a few moments before a sound broke her from her thoughts.

"Ranma?" Her mother's voice called.

"Y-yeah?" She answered after a few moments.

"I'm leaving you some clean clothing to sleep in next to the clothes hamper," Nodoka's voice came from behind the screen that separated the bath from the laundry area, "Your father and I are going to bed now. Don't stay up too late, okay?"

"A-alright, Mom," She said, "G'night."

She listened as her mother closed the door behind her as she left the room.

Ranma decided that her bath had taken long enough and quickly rose from the water. Reaching over to grab a towel, she quickly dried off her face, arms, and legs before wrapping it around her. As she moved towards the door, she saw herself in the mirror out of the corner of her eye. She turned to look at her reflection more closely.

This was the first time she had seen herself since awakening in the hospital. She looked at how her crimson hair now reached well past the bottom of the towel she now wore. She also noted how she had wrapped the towel around her to conceal both her chest and her nethers; something that Akane had rather loudly (and often violently) proclaimed that she should do on several different occasions.

" _You're unbelievable! Have you no feminine modesty?!"_

Ranma remembered Akane telling her that the morning after she had first arrived at the Tendo dojo. Ranma had proclaimed that he had no need for feminine modesty and, from that point on, had refused to do as such mostly out of pride and hard-headedness.

This caused her to think back to the small discussion she had had with her father and how she had sat down at the table as a girl normally would.

She closed her eyes tightly. She wanted to get angry and smash the mirror into pieces.

But she didn't. She simply felt the same calmness that had pervaded over her mind ever since she had awoken in the fields of Nirvana.

She simply gave a long and tired sigh before opening her eyes again. She found herself looking at the clothing Nodoka had left for her to sleep in.

It was a light blue pajama suit that had darker blue swirls printed all over it and was made of a thin layer of soft, fuzzy fleece. It was obviously not a part of Genma's wardrobe. More than likely it was her mothers. She slowly reached down and picked up the top piece of the suit. She simply looked at it for a few moments, sizing it up as she would someone who had challenged her to a fight. Before, she would have refused to wear something as fuzzy as this; she would have claimed that it was too girly. There was nothing manly about being soft and fuzzy.

She eventually put it down and began to feverishly dry her hair with the towel. Once she felt that it was dry enough, she again picked up the pajama suit.

The first thing she noticed as she began to get dressed was the utter lack of any type of underwear. This seemed odd, but Ranma was not in the mood to think about anything at the moment. She mindlessly dressed in the pajama suit.

After getting dressed, she glanced at herself in the mirror again, but only for a second. She absentmindedly noted how this outfit fit her much better than most of her clothing, which were baggy and loose while in her female form. This outfit seemed almost tailor made for her, which was no surprise as her own body frame was very similar to that of her mothers.

After getting dressed, she slowly opened the door out into the hall. She quietly made her way towards her room, silently opening it and then closing it again behind her.

The room was mostly bare. The walls were a baby blue color and were only decorated by a small number of pictures of her as a child. There was a chest of drawers along one wall, right next to the closet. The bed was positioned alongside the wall, right under a window that looked out over the street next to the house.

She slowly made her way to her bed and slipped beneath the covers. She wasn't tired, not in the least, but she was fed up with thinking about things that she didn't understand. Sleep would give her a small reprieve at least.

* * *

As she slept, Ranma began to dream. It was odd at first, as most dreams were. Memories and images of her past flashed before her, mixed with random assorted dream stuff. It was only after what seemed like hours had passed that this began to change, causing her dream to become much more lucid.

She found herself; still dressed in the pajama suit; watching herself fight against different people. Ryoga came first, but was quickly replaced with Shampoo, and then with Akane. As fight scenes raced past her, she recognized each of them as the many different quarrels that she had had in the past. The Gymnastic Martial Arts tournament against Kodachi. Her fight with the Golden Pair at the ice skating ring. Her fight with Herb over the unlocking kettle.

Most of these vanished just as suddenly as they appeared, but some were drawn on much longer. When she fought that multi-headed dragon and saved Akane. When she had fought that ghost cat to save Shampoo. When she fought against the evil doll that had possessed Akane. When she fought the dojo destroyer that had come to claim the Tendo dojo sign as his own.

Finally, her last fight came to play itself out before her: her fight with Saffron. She watched and could see how her then male body had begun to shake and his breathing become labored. She herself began to shiver as she watched herself spiral out of control in a desperate attempt to save not just Akane, but all the others who she knew were nearby.

She was nearly in tears when she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up sharply to see who it was.

The man who stood before her was a towering mass of muscle, covered in a fine layer of golden brown fur. He wore a golden gilded belt over a pair of deep brown leather pants. Shirtless, he wore golden bracers on his wrists and a long golden chain around his neck. His face was that of a lion, smiling in a way only a lion can. He radiated both a sense of nobility and ferocity.

Ranma simply stared at the man. There was no all-consuming fear nor any overwhelming urge to flee for her life. No, she simply stared, a look of reverence in her eyes.

"Have no fear, my child," The lion man said, "I am Kelumarion-the-King-Over-the-Mountain, and you are as fierce and noble a warrior as any Leonal. You shall always have a place waiting for you in Nirvana."

And with that, the dreams ended. All that was left was peace and quiet as Ranma slumbered. A small content smile spread across her face as she silently slept.

* * *

Nabiki is usually the first student to reach Furinkan every morning. She also usually shows up before most of the faculty, including the more than slightly insane principle. And it seemed, at first, that today was no exception.

That was, until she saw a new face standing there, looking up at the clock on the front of the school. Whoever they were, they wore Furinkan's male school uniform. Nabiki cocked an eyebrow. The vice principle hadn't informed her of any new students.

The person had a full head of shaggy orange red hair and a fair complexion.. He was a tad bit lanky, but not unhealthily so. He seemed to be quietly critiquing the school.

"It's a bit scrawny for an academy," He stated to himself in fluent Japanese, "Without a respectable library, too. Are all schools here this… dull looking?"

In Nabiki's head, dollar signs started to dance around her eyes. She quickly walked up to the teen.

"You new here?" She asked, breaking the boy from his thoughts.

"A-ah, yes," He said nervously, "I recently enrolled here, but I haven't had a chance to see it as of yet. I had gotten here early in hopes of walking around a small bit before classes."

"I'm fairly familiar with the school grounds," Nabiki told him, "Most of the faculty aren't here yet, so I could show you around if you'd like."

The boy nodded.

"I thank you," He said, "I'm not exactly from this area."

Nabiki just smiled.

" _I'll just lead him around for a while and then charge him a fee,_ " she thought, figuring that the unsuspected newcomer might as well start paying her right off the bat rather than beating around the bush for a while.

She led the boy around the school grounds for a while, idly chit chatting with the rather silent boy. Her thoughts throughout most of the ordeal were mostly dedicated to calculating her price tag. She didn't notice that the boy had suddenly become quite put off towards her a little ways into her tour.

He walked casually behind the girl, ignoring her most of the time and often times rolling his eyes at random points in the conversation. He perked up whenever she asked him for his input or turned towards him, his annoyed expression disappearing behind a well-made mask of false insecurity.

Honestly, he sort of felt sorry for the girl. He was leading her on as she attempted the same.

" _That goes to show you,"_ Zirul thought, _"Scams don't work when you try to scam someone who can read minds."_

He hadn't totally expected the first person at the school to try and scam him, but he had heard rumors about the Ice Queen of Furinkan that drained the pockets of anyone who came across her path. And while he hadn't been here long and didn't totally understand the true value of what a 'yen' was, he knew enough to know that the prices were pretty astronomical for a simple tour around campus.

Eventually students and teachers alike started to enter the building, ending the tour. Zirul saw that the girl was about to spring her trap on him.

"I thank you for the tour, miss," He said to her before she could say anything, "I'd offer you something for your kindness, but my family is quite poor and I have nothing to give. My parents gave all they could so I could come here and have a decent education."

It was Nabiki's turn to suddenly be put off. She hid it behind her own well-made mask of falsity.

"Don't mention it," Nabiki said, smiling as she inwardly cursed her luck, "We can settle for an I.O.U., right?"

"Most definitely," Zirul said, inwardly smirking. He still had his golden tongue. Diplomacy may not have been his forte, but misdirection was a completely different story.

"Well," Nabiki said, "I have to get to class. You'd better get to your classroom before the bell rings; they still make you hold buckets of water out in the hall here."

Zirul nodded with a nervous smile.

" _Buckets of water?"_

* * *

Nabiki, having abandoned her temporary charge to his fate, quickly made her way to her classroom on the ground floor. She quickly, without gathering too much attention, made her way towards her desk and began to put her things in order for both a day at school and a day at the office.

It was only a few minutes later that Nabiki found herself again before the red headed foreigner, this time as the teacher introduced him as a foreign exchange student.

"This is Xin Luang," the teacher said, "He and his family just moved from rural China to Nerima."

Xin, aka Zirul, glanced around the room before bowing politely. He caught the eye of the girl who had given him an impromptu tour around campus. He simply gave a slightly cocky smile.

Nabiki narrowed her eyes. She didn't know much about him, but she already knew she didn't care for the boy. The fact that he was poor made it difficult to get any money out of him, which only gave her yet another reason not to like him.

But mostly, it was the know-it-all smirk that he was giving her that she didn't like. There was definitely something odd about him, but she just couldn't put her finger on it.

* * *

"Auntie! Ranma!" Kasumi said in a chipper voice, "It's good to see you two. Please come in."

"Good morning, Kasumi dear," Nodoka said as she walked through the door, followed by a silent Ranma, "Where is Soun?"

"Daddy went to go buy some things," Kasumi said, "He should be back by the time Akane and Nabiki get home from school."

Nodoka nodded. She had hoped to gather the clothes without the man around. She feared that Ranma was still too fragile to deal with Soun and his over-emotional nonsense.

"I'm so glad that you finally woke up, Ranma-chan," Kasumi said, turning to the red head, "I've been worried sick about you. So has Akane."

Ranma blushed a small bit before responding.

"D-don't worry about me," She said, nervously rubbing the back of her neck, "I've been through a lot, something like this wasn't gonna take me down."

The action of idly rubbing her neck caused Kasumi to notice the increased length of the red-heads hair.

Ranma's hair was no longer tied in her famous pigtail, since it was far too long for her to tie it that way with the dragon's whisker. She had braided it much like her mother had done yesterday. The braided hairstyle definitely had a more feminine feel to it.

"Oh my," Kasumi said, "Ranma, what happened to your hair?"

"Heh," Ranma said nervously, "Apparently it started growing like crazy while I was out cold."

Ranma looked bashful for a moment before continuing.

"Why, you think it looks nice or something?" She asked as casually as she could, unable to hide a blush.

This had caught Kasumi off guard a small bit. Ranma, aside from trying to look as manly as possible, hadn't ever really seemed to care what other people thought about how she looked. The only distinct exception to that rule was that he disliked anyone altering or damaging clothing she considered to be her favorite.

"Why, yes," Kasumi said after a brief pause to collect her thoughts, "It looks very cute on you."

"Ah-heh heh," Ranma laughed nervously as she blushed a small bit, a small smile on her face.

Nodoka simply observed as Ranma and Kasumi continued to have idle chit chat; mostly Kasumi was asking him questions about her awakening, which Ranma was giving short, direct answers. Nodoka was still quite worried about her 'son', especially after all the strangeness last night. This morning had been at least slightly better.

While Ranma was still quite silent and still seemed to be lost in thought most of the time, her expression while doing so had changed from a distant, emotionless mask to be more pleasant and content. Ranma had spent most of the train ride staring out of the window with a slight smile on her face.

Still, Nodoka still worried. When she asked the red-headed girl how she had slept, Ranma had simply smiled and told her that she had a very nice dream, although she didn't remember it very well. While Nodoka was glad for her 'son's' pleasant dreams, a nagging thought in the back of her mind made her restless.

A small ringing came from the kitchen, interrupting both Nodoka's thoughts and Ranma and Kasumi's conversation. A look of realization came to Kasumi said.

"Oh my," She said, "I'm sorry Auntie, Ranma-chan. I was in the middle of making a small lunch. It'll still be a few minutes before it's ready."

At this, Ranma excitedly turned towards the kitchen and took a few small sniffs.

"Don't worry about it, dear," Nodoka said, "Ranma and I'll go upstairs and start gathering a few things."

Kasumi bowed to the both of them before hurrying back into the kitchen. Nodoka and Ranma made their way up the stairs towards the guest room she and her father had been using.

Sliding the door open, Ranma found that the room had changed very little, with the exception for Kasumi cleaning it every few days.

"Now, Ranma dear," Nodoka said, gaining Ranma's attention, "Where do you keep your clothes?"

"Most of 'em are in the closet," Ranma said, "Some of the stuff I hardly ever wear is in my traveling pack, though."

"Alright," Nodoka said, "Why don't you go through the closet and pick out a few outfits for the week while I sort through you travel pack?"

Ranma almost immediately seemed like she was going to protest, but she stopped herself almost as fast as she had started. She eventually nodded, but still seemed to be concerned about something.

Ranma had wanted to protest because she knew what type of clothing was in her pack. On top were a few karate uniforms. Below that was some of the clothing she plain didn't like. Below those was all the feminine clothing Nodoka had bought her while she moonlighted as Ranko Tendo.

She didn't want to really have to go through all those frilly dresses and such, but she knew that she would eventually have to do something with them. She was just unsure with what she would do with them when the time came, especially when it came to facing her mother afterwards. Her nervousness made her unable to object, she simply had to hope for the best.

She slowly slid open the closet and began to sort through her old clothing and, to be truthful, she was disappointed with what she found.

While she liked her old clothing, it quickly became obvious to her that none of the clothing she had would fit her properly. They would be loose and baggy, just like they always were when she was a girl. In that regard, they had constantly made fighting as a girl somewhat more difficult than it should have been, especially since they were almost always soaking wet in those situations.

That thought pervaded over her mind as she sorted the clothing. She hardly noticed that most of the clothing she had looked though had been placed in a rejection pile. Most of what was left over were tank tops, jackets, shorts, and socks, with exceptions to some of Ranma's favorite shirts and pants. Not a very varied wardrobe.

Nodoka watched her 'son' out of the corner of her eyes. Ranma was tossing most of the stuff over her shoulder into a haphazard pile behind her without a second thought. When she seemed to actually be considering something, she would hold it up for a moment and then hold it up against herself, checking its size compared to her. She would then look at it with a small bit of disdain before tossing it into the rapidly growing pile behind her.

Eventually, Nodoka turned back towards the large brown backpack nestled in the corner of the room. She, much like Ranma, immediately placed the white karate uniforms to the side. They were far too large for Ranma to wear in her state. At least, not without something underneath them.

Going down past that layer there was a layer of clothing that were tattered and torn. Many seemed like they had been used at some point to stymie blood loss; clothes that had basically been somewhat ruined, but were kept simply as scrap cloth and silk in case of a situation arose that called for it. Others just looked tacky and outrageous. She places those to the side as well.

That's when she noticed the clothing stuffed in the very bottom of the pack. She instantly recognized one particular dress that she had bought for 'Ranko'. She lifted it up out of the bag to look at it. Due to its placement in the pack, it was heavily wrinkled. She quickly glanced at Ranma, whose back was turned to her. She watched as Ranma selected only clothing that would at least somewhat fit her in her female form.

Nodoka had been dreading the conversation that now loomed directly in front of her. She silently sighed, putting the dress back into the pack.

"Ranma," she said, causing Ranma to flinch heavily. Ranma had expected her to find those pieces of clothing, "I need to ask you something."

Ranma gathered her hands in front of her, clutching a red silk shirt.

"Y-yeah?" She asked, not turning to face her mother.

"How…" Nodoka started, but hesitated, "How do you feel about being stuck as a girl?"

Ranma didn't move or answer for quite some time.

"It… it doesn't matter," Ranma said, in a shaky voice, "I-I mean, still gotta be a man amongst men, right?"

At that, Nodoka quickly moved over to her 'son'.

"No, Ranma," she said as she put her hand on Ranma's shoulder, "I'm not… I can't hold you to that pledge any longer. You don't have to be anything you don't want to be."

Ranma turned to look at her mother for a moment, and briefly looked Nodoka in the eyes before diverting her gaze down to the floor.

"I realized," Nodoka continued, "When you were in the hospital that I had nearly lost you. That the seppuku pledge didn't matter any longer. I admit that I had grown a tad bit… obsessed with it while you and Genma were on the road for all those years. I… was afraid that you'd leave me again as soon as you came back. And when you were in the hospital… that nearly happened."

Ranma looked back up to her mother, who she saw was fighting back tears.

"Wither you're a boy or a girl," Nodoka said with a small smile, "I just don't want you to leave again."

With that, Ranma tried to give her the most reassuring smile she could.

"Don't worry, Momma," She said, "I'm not going anywhere."

With that, Nodoka lost her fight with her tears and hugged her son turned daughter. She held her for quite some time before she managed to regain her composure.

"I-I'm sorry, dear," Nodoka said, "For getting so emotional."

"Don't sweat it, Momma," Ranma said confidently. Her confidence then wavered a small bit as she began to fidget with the bottom of her shirt again, "but…"

She mumbled something that Nodoka didn't catch.

"What is it, Ranma?" Nodoka asked.

"I said…" Ranma paused, "I mean… I kinda…"

She sighed.

"It…" She finally said, "It would be nice to have some clothing that fit me. N-nothing girly or anything, though! I ain't wearing any frilly dresses or anything. Just normal pants and shirts and stuff."

Nodoka surveyed her 'daughter' for a moment.

"So…" She asked, "You're okay with staying like this? With being our daughter instead of our son?"

Ranma looked off a small bit.

"I dunno," She said, "I guess. I mean, I guess I'd like to be able to change back. It… it just doesn't seem to matter that much anymore."

Ranma saw Nodoka frown and quickly went on the defensive.

"I mean, it does matter, but…" She said, "I… uh… I just mean that it's easier to fight in clothes that fit than in clothes that are really baggy, and I get into fights all the time over stupid stuff. Ah-ha… ha…"

Ranma's protest died with a whimper.

"Then why don't we gather up a few things here and tomorrow we'll go get some new clothes," Nodoka said with a sincere a smile as she could muster, "Perhaps Kasumi has some old clothes that might fit."

"A-alright," Ranma said, although she had reservations about borrowing clothes from the Tendos.

* * *

Nabiki was having a rather average lunch break, carefully eating her food as she monitored several different betting pools she had set up.

With Saotome incapacitated, many of those betting pools had all but dried up. She was forced to resort back to her older pools that she had created long before Ranma ever showed up. It was aggravating, however, as these older pools were much less lucrative than those which did involve the pigtailed martial artist.

Most of these older pools revolved around either Akane or Kuno; many of those involving her little sister had also seen a large reduction in profits. Akane had become far less violent in the weeks Ranma has been in the hospital, although Nabiki suspected that they would return to normal as soon as the young Saotome came back to the Tendo residence.

Of course, her meal was interrupted when the boy in front of her suddenly turned around in his chair.

Nabiki glanced at him. He smirked.

She would have to have a talk with the vice principle about this 'new student'.

"So you're Nabiki Tendo, eh?" Xin Luang asked.

"What of it?" Nabiki asked.

"Nothing, nothing," Xin responded, "It's just that I've heard that you know a lot about the students here."

"Really," Nabiki stated, "And how did you learn that if this is the first day you've ever been here?"

"I have my ways," Xin said, "But that's beside the point. I need to ask you something."

"I'm sorry, Xin," Nabiki said, "But without some sort of compensation, I'm afraid I can't tell you anything."

"Compensation, eh?" Xin thought for a moment, "Alright. One second."

Xin reached down for his school bag, unlatched it, and pulled out a small dark leather pouch. The pouch was ornate, hemmed with golden thread and embroidered with strange symbols.

"A rather nice bag for a poor Chinese family," Nabiki said.

Xin simply gave her a cocky smirk, causing Nabiki to narrow her eyes. His attitude had made a complete 180 since their tour this morning. His innocent shyness had given way to bold confidence. She could see in his eyes that he knew about her growing suspicions about him; she could also see that he didn't give a damn.

"Family heirloom," he said, placing the bag down in front of him. He unbuckled the fancily made buckle keeping it closed and began to rifle around in it.

Nabiki heard several metal and wooden objects clink and bang up against each other as it took Xin a fairly long time to search the relatively small bag. She raised an eyebrow, but kept her rather un-amused expression.

"Ah-ha," Xin finally said, pulling what seemed like a large coin from his pouch. It was a little less than a centimeter thick and an inch and a half in diameter. It shined brightly like silver, but the markings and symbols on the coin weren't any Nabiki had ever seen; they certainly weren't Chinese.

Nabiki's expression change to one of intrigue.

"Will this do?" Xin asked.

"A silver coin?" Nabiki said, "That isn't worth that much."

"Silver?" Xin said, "No, no, no, not silver. Platinum."

Nabiki's other eyebrow rose.

"I thought you said your family was poor," Nabiki asked suspiciously.

"As far as I know, they are," Xin deadpanned, "But this has nothing to do with them, does it?"

Nabiki snatched the coin from Xin's hand, eyeballing both it and Xin, who had yet to stop smirking. She hesitated before lightly biting the coin.

It was real.

"Alright, fine," Nabiki said, "What do you want to know?"

"I want to know about a certain student that goes to class here," Xin asked, "By the name of Ranma Saotome."

Nabiki smirked.

"Are you a rival or a fiancé?" She asked.

Xin blinked a few times, looking kind of confused.

"Excuse me?" He asked, "Rest assured that it is neither."

"Then why so interested in Ranma?" Nabiki asked, "Most people either want to kill him, beat him, or marry him."

Xin paused for a moment.

"Let's just say I have a personal interest in Saotome's wellbeing," Xin replied, "I want to know why she isn't at school when there are classes today and wither or not she is healthy."

Nabiki paused for a moment to think.

Most of the people who asked about Ranma wanted one of two things: to fight him or marry him. It was rather unprecedented that someone would show up worried about his health.

Plus, Xin was calling Ranma a she, something that Ranma would loudly protest against, signifying that Xin didn't know Ranma personally. Perhaps at best they were passing acquaintances, but no more.

"Why are you so interested in Saotome's health?" Nabiki asked.

"Does one need a reason to be concerned about the health of a fellow living being?" Xin asked seriously and without hesitation.

An unexpected reply. Kinda cheesy too. Nabiki could see that Xin was sincere in his concern, but Nabiki knew better when it came to Saotome. Nothing was ever that simple.

"Normally, I guess not," Nabiki said, "But when it comes to Ranma Saotome, yes, I would say that you _do_ need a reason."

Xin simply produced another platinum piece. Nabiki hesitated.

"I'm not sure that's going to cut it," Nabiki said, "The Saotomes are friends of the family and I can't just give information away to every random stranger that…"

Xin produced yet another piece of platinum. Nabiki stopped cold.

"More where that came from," Xin said, plain faced.

Nabiki narrowed her eyes at him, but snatched the coins from Xin's hand.

"Fine," Nabiki said, stuffing the coins into her school bag, "What exactly do you want to know about him?"

"As much as three platinum will purchase," Xin answered, "And just so you know, I could have bought a house with that much coin where I come from."

"And where, exactly, in China do people use platinum coins as currency?" Nabiki asked.

"A place with a name you would not recognize," Xin said sharply, "but that is neither here nor there. I'm willing to bet you're a woman with an eye for the rich and fancy. You would not have tried to scam me into paying you for the school tour if you weren't."

Nabiki narrowed her gaze at him. He simply kept on smiling.

" _He's good. And he's a cocky bastard,"_ she thought.

Xin's smirk grew wider. That caused Nabiki's eyebrow to twitch slightly.

"Fine," Nabiki said, "I guess for this much I can give you the abridged version of Saotome's life."

"Oh yes, please," Xin replied, "Lunch is almost over."

Nabiki fumed. She wouldn't be taking this if she hadn't appraised those coins at near a hundred thousand yen a piece.

* * *

Nabiki was deep in thought as she walked home behind her younger sister. It was one of the very few times she had left with Akane, but Soun had asked them to come home early today for some sort of surprise. Nabiki wagered that it had something to do with Ranma getting out of the hospital.

However, that wasn't what she was thinking about. It was how Xin Luang had reacted to her telling him the basic overview of Ranma's life.

Relatively quickly after she had started, the smirk had fallen from his face. Halfway through the training trip, he had developed a frown. The Neko-ken had seemed to, for lack of a better term, royally piss him off.

He had been massaging his temples when she had finished. Nabiki had watched him for a few seconds before she noticed the teacher of the next period entered the room. That was when he had abruptly stood up and turned to her with a look that could melt steel.

"Ranma chose to come back here," he then said, "If I were you I'd make damn sure that she never regrets it."

Nabiki just looked at him with an astonished look as he began to walk towards the door.

"Hey!" The teacher had said, "Where do you think you're going, ya punk?!"

He had given the teacher a sharp glare before saying a single sentence.

"I'm done with classes for the day," He said before walking out. The teacher had stood there for a few moments, but had recovered enough to speak just as Xin was walking out of the door.

"Oh, okay, have a nice day then!" The teacher had said in a chipper tone.

And class resumed normally.

That had confused Nabiki the most. Of all the teachers that taught at Furinkan, that particular teacher was infamous for being cranky and unforgiving; and abnormally strict in enforcing the school rules. The only other teacher that could be considered as extreme in their discipline regiment would be Hinako, the age changing teacher known for sucking students dry of their energy.

Nothing about the new Chinese student made sense, especially when she thought of the way he had paid her for the information. She still checked her bag every few minutes to make sure she actually had those three coins. And he had said that he had more where that came from. She was having a hard time believing he was from China. Hell, he had practically admitted that his whole 'poor family' thing was a lie.

"What do you think this surprise is about?" Akane asked, interrupting Nabiki's train of thought. Nabiki looked up to her younger sister.

"It's more than likely something about Saotome," Nabiki said, "I heard Daddy talking Mr. Saotome on the phone last night. Apparently, Ranma woke up yesterday."

Akane blinked a few times, a suddenly looked very unsure of herself.

It was a few moments later that Akane had gathered the will to say something, but by that time, they had arrived back home.

The mood of the building was somber. Akane and Nabiki could hear talking coming from in the house. They recognized Nodoka's voice, but she had frequently visited the Tendo home with news on Ranma's condition. Neither of them heard Ranma, however.

The talking stopped as they opened the door. The people inside turned to see who was there.

As they walked into the main room, they saw Kasumi and Soun sitting on one side of the table while Nodoka and Ranma-chan sat on the other. As soon as she saw Akane, Ranma stood up and began to walk over to her, yet she stopped after two steps. Neither of them said anything.

Nabiki glanced between the two. She then took that opportunity to looked Ranma over.

"Wow, Saotome," She said, "Dig the new look. The long hair suits you."

Ranma blushed slightly and absentmindedly tugged on her braid.

"Ranma," She heard her mother call. She turned to face her, "Why don't you and Akane go into the dojo? I'm sure you have a lot to talk about."

Ranma glanced at Akane, who didn't immediately protest to the suggestion. She nodded and both of them walked over into the dojo.

Silence pervaded for a few moments.

"So…" Akane said, "What _is_ with the hair?"

Ranma glanced at her.

"Heh…," Ranma laughed nervously, "It grew out this long while I was in the hospital. Can't cut it, it just grows back. Momma- I mean, Mom braided it so it wouldn't be all over the place."

Again, the room went silent for several moments.

"It…" Ranma eventually said, "I'm… glad you're okay."

"What, you were worried?" Akane asked, suddenly becoming confrontational, "I'm not frail or anything, you know."

"N-no…" Ranma said, unsure of her response, "I mean… I dunno."

Ranma looked down with an exasperated sigh. She had expected that sort of response from Akane almost as soon as she said it. Akane quirked an eyebrow.

"Are you alright?" She asked, "You're acting kinda weird."

"I know," Ranma said before realizing it. She then hastily tried to recover, "I mean, uh… I'm fine. I'm perfectly fine."

Akane leveled a slightly annoyed look at her.

"Yeah, right," Akane said with a suspicious glance, "You're kinda freaking me out a little. You sure you're fine?"

"I…" Ranma said, covering her face with her hands for a few moments, "I dunno. It's… hard to explain, I guess."

Akane just continued to watch her suspiciously. She scanned over the red-heads form, trying to see if anything else besides her hair was off in any way. It did not take her long to notice something else out of the ordinary. A slight impression could be seen through Ranma's shirt, being especially prevalent on her shoulders. It took Akane a few moments to realize what Ranma was wearing.

"What are you wearing?" Akane's voice rising slightly, causing Ranma to look up at her suddenly. Ranma looked to Akane's eyes before following them to where she was looking.

Her chest.

Ranma immediately blushed and folded her arms over her breasts.

"Are you wearing a bra?!" Akane asked, a tint of anger in her voice, "You pervert!"

To Akane's surprise, the rebuttal that she had expected to come failed to come in the way she had predicted.

"N-no, I'm not!" Ranma said sheepishly.

Akane just looked at her. Ranma looked away.

"Its…" Ranma said, "It's a sports bra."

"That's still a bra, idiot," Akane snapped, "Why the hell are you wearing it and where the hell did you find it?"

Ranma looked down, a small amount of aggravation becoming apparent in her expression.

"I got it from Kasumi," Ranma told her, "And I'm wearing it because…"

She hesitated slightly.

"Because I'm stuck this way."

Akane blinked a few times as recognition was processed.

"Your curse is locked again?" She asked, the anger in her voice dying down considerably. It did not go away altogether, though.

"Pretty much," Ranma said, "The people at the hospital said that I'm crazy resistant to heat now. Probably have to swim in boiling water or something to change back or something."

Ranma sighed.

"I dunno," She said without thinking, "Doesn't matter much anymore, I guess."

Ranma cursed herself as soon as she had said that. Again, she spoke without thinking, and that last part had definitely hit Akane the wrong way as she immediately regained the anger in her voice.

"Doesn't matter?" She asked, "You pervert! You can't wear girls' clothing!"

"I'm not a pervert," Ranma rebutted, anger entering her tone, "And why shouldn't I wear clothes that fit me when I'm like this?"

"Because it's wrong!" Akane said loudly, "You're not a girl!"

"Yeah, well…!" Ranma said, her voice raising slightly before she abruptly cut herself off. She tightly shut her eyes and simply stood there for a moment, trying to reign in the emotions that had so suddenly and abruptly flared within her. Emotions that caused that tense knot deep within her to start throbbing again; there was no pain per se but it filled her with unease and a sense of wrongness. She tried to calm herself, partially because she was tired of the nonsense that she and Akane constantly got into and partially because she feared what that throbbing pressure signified.

Ranma suddenly wanted nothing but to leave the conversation right there on the spot. She was tired of it all.

"Look," She said after a moment, before pausing yet again, but only for a brief moment so she could collect her thoughts, "There ain't any way out of it this time, okay? There isn't any cure or anything for me to go find. I'm stuck this way, most likely for good."

Akane deflated slightly, shocked at the rather unexpected response she had received. It seemed to go against everything she had come to expect from the aquatically cursed martial artist. There wasn't any loud rebuttals or insults, just a rational and somewhat calm explanation. She was not deterred, though.

"And you think just because you are stuck this way means that you can suddenly start dressing like a girl?" Akane snapped back, meaning that Ranma's valiant attempt at defusing the confrontation was unsuccessful, "It's perverted! You're a guy! You can't dress like a girl!"

"So what am I supposed to do?" Ranma said, "Dress in clothes that make people stare at me no matter where I go? I don't like it when creepy men stare at me like a piece of meat any more than you would."

Akane simply crossed her arms.

"That's a lie," She said, "If you didn't like it, why would you scam all those venders out of free food by acting all cute and giggly?"

Ranma suddenly blushed and looked away, nervousness flooding into her. She crossed her arms and began to fidget under Akane's glare.

"Th-that's different," Ranma said meekly, "Th-there was food involved."

"You're unbelievable!" Akane said without hesitation, "You're either thinking with your stomach or doing something perverted! Here I was worried about you and you're just running around dressing up like a girl! Perverted idiot!"

Ranma eyes snapped to the irate girl, who continued to ramble on about how she was idiotic, infuriating, and perverted.

' _Akane was worried about me?'_

Ranma stood there staring at the floor as Akane continued to rant. After a few moments, she began to shake, tears threatening to fall down her face. The throbbing in her chest started to grow more and more unsettling, now on the verge of becoming painful. She had barely noticed that Akane had started to ask her questions rapidly and angrily. She remained silent and unmoving, fearing that if she spoke, she wouldn't be able to contain her emotions.

"Are you even listening to me, you idiot?!" Akane asked.

The throbbing suddenly pulsed so intensely that it physically caused Ranma to rock backwards.

"G-gah!" She grunted loudly. Her eyes opened wide as time seemed to slow down. The single second between the pulse and what came afterwards seemed like an eternity to her.

Because after that pulse, what felt like a wave of energy rushed through her. A feeling she had most definitely felt before. She suddenly clutched her head and began to shake violently. She started to breathe heavily, even as the wave of energy had passed through her and a familiar, yet unsettling calmness overtook her.

For a few moments, she stared off into nothingness with a distant look in her eyes. Akane, who had been surprised with Ranma sudden reaction, merely looked at the girl with a confused yet still quite angry look. Ranma's arms dropped to her sides.

After a few moments, Akane's aggravation overtook her confusion yet again.

"I said, are you listening to me?" She nearly demanded, "It's just like in school, you never pay attention because you're too preoccupied thinking about something perverted!"

Ranma's response was immediate and nearly emotionless.

"Whatever," She said softly.

"What?!" Akane snapped, "Don't try and weasel you're way out of this, you…!"

"I don't care," Ranma said, cutting her off, "I had been trying to think of a way to tell you all this without you going off like this, but I knew that nothing I had come up with would have worked. So go ahead, yell at me and call me a pervert or an idiot or whatever else you want. Hit me with a hammer or a table or something. Accuse me for everything crazy that goes on around me. I just don't care anymore."

With that, Ranma began to slowly walk around the stunned Tendo girl, heading towards the door back to where the others sat within the main building. As she passed by Akane, she said one last thing.

"I'm glad to see you're okay though," She said, sorrow within her voice and eyes.

Akane could do nothing but watch as the red headed girl slowly walked towards the exit, slowly slid it open, and walk through it, shutting it quietly behind her.

Akane simply blinked a few times. She suddenly felt extremely guilty.

* * *

Flash back a few minutes before, Akane and Ranma had just left the room, leaving Nodoka, Soun, Nabiki, and Kasumi sitting in the living room.

"Auntie," Kasumi said, "I apologize if you think me intrusive but did anything happen to Ranma?"

Nodoka shook her head.

"Do not worry, Kasumi-chan," She said, "It's perfectly fine to be worried; I'm a bit worried myself."

"He does seem to lack the fire that he used to have," Soun added his two cents. He had actually only gotten back to the house ten or so minutes before Akane and Nabiki had arrived, and had yet to be told anything.

"Ranma…" Nodoka started, "had a strange dream or vision while she was in the coma that apparently affected her quite a bit. She's been quite distant."

"She?" Nabiki asked, raising an eyebrow.

Nodoka fidgeted for a brief moment.

"You've remember that her body temperature was fluctuating while she was unconscious, yes?" Nodoka asked to determine if they remembered. Upon their confirmation, she continued, "Apparently, that had some rather strange effects on her. She's incredibly resistant to extreme heat, which has locked her within her girl form. And with her acting oddly, it seems she's suddenly come to grips with it."

Nodoka looked down, worry evident in her expression and posture.

"I must say," Kasumi said, "I was ever so surprised when you asked me if Ranma could borrow some clothes."

Nodoka nodded.

"She's become quite insistent on having clothes that fit her properly," Nodoka said, "I don't know why or where that idea came from. She even agreed to go with me tomorrow to buy some new clothing for her. She did refuse to wear anything girly, however."

Soun closed his eyes and thought deeply for a few moments.

"Do you think this will have any effect on his betrothal to Akane?" Soun asked in a serious tone.

"Ranma did ask about her quite soon after she woke up, she was very concerned," Nodoka said, "I don't think anything has changed in that regard, but I cannot be certain."

"Where will Ranma be staying?" Kasumi asked, "With you?"

"For the time being," Nodoka responded, "She'll stay with Genma and me for a week to allow her to recuperate. But Genma was adamant about her returning here afterwards, she is enrolled at Furinkan."

"That is fine," Soun nodded, "We would be happy to have Ranma staying with us again."

"Speak for yourself," Nabiki murmured quietly, causing Soun to cut a short glare at her, to which she rolled her eyes.

It was at that moment that the door to the porch slowly slid open, revealing a short red-headed girl who slowly entered the room before shutting it behind her. They all turned to her. When Nodoka saw Ranma's expression she immediately became worried.

Ranma's face was distant and nearly emotionless, like it had been when they had first seen her in the hospital. She slowly walked over to the table before sitting down next to her mother. She sat on her knees like a Japanese girl normally would, her hands placed in her lap.

"Where's Akane?" Soun asked, looking at the door.

"Still in the dojo…." Ranma said quietly. She didn't elaborate.

Nodoka put a hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"Is everything okay?" She asked.

Ranma didn't respond. She simply sat there, motionless.

Nabiki looked at Ranma's emotionless face with a quirked eyebrow before she glanced around the room to the other people sitting there with them. Nodoka was obviously worried about Ranma, Kasumi as well. Soun's face was filled with a shaky determination. Nabiki sighed at the melancholy that had saturated the room.

If anything, she was going to attempt to politely pump her for information.

"Hey, Ranma," She said, "There was someone at school today asking all sorts of questions about you. They seemed to know you."

She didn't get a response. Saotome was being difficult.

"Anyway…," She said after a few moments, "They paid for the information in a pretty strange way. You know anyone named Xin Luang?"

"No…." Ranma said quietly, neither her expression nor her posture changing in any way.

"Really?" Nabiki asked feigning curiosity to cover her irritation, "They said some pretty strange stuff and seemed pretty concerned about you. Said something about you deciding to come back here or something. Any idea what he's was talking about?"

That got a response, if not a reply. Ranma twitched and gripped the bottom of her shirt tightly within her fists. She began to shake ever so slightly, but she did not say anything.

"Nabiki, stop it," Kasumi said, "You're upsetting her."

Nabiki threw up her hands in a surrendering motion and dropped the subject.

* * *

Zirul sat upon the edge of a building not too far from Furinkan, no longer in his human disguise. He had retreated there soon after he had left the school and had fumed for quite some time.

Going off of what the Tendo girl told her, he was surprised that Saotome had stayed sane through all the things he went through, especially the Neko-ken. Hell, it was a miracle that he was still capable of doing _anything_ after something like that.

Although they had little time during their lunch break to talk, forcing Nabiki to give him an abridged version of Ranma's life story, Zirul was able to gleam more information from Nabiki's surface thoughts as she talked. Hearing the story of the boy turned girl's life had intensified his resolve in helping her. He was certain that, even though Ranma's father had been the cause of most of the problems the boy had gone through, his father was also the reason why he fared so well through all the chaos. Nabiki had made it clear that Ranma believed his duty as a martial artist was to protect the weak, something she had said that Genma had practically drilled into his mind. Ranma also spent a huge amount of time and energy in remaining honorable throughout his life, even when it was in his own benefit to do otherwise.

Zirul was absolutely sure that this sense of honor and duty was the reason why he, as a girl, had appeared in Nirvana; Nirvana was the land of peace, a place where weary warriors found rest and comfort, a place where your pain and worry melted away into calmness and serenity.

That, however, had made Zirul worry even more. Nirvana has a rather large effect on the minds of the petitioners that were sent there and he was now even more unsure as to what Ranma's reaction to being cut off from that would be; that is, if the process had been stopped at all. The thought that she may still be under Nirvana's influence made him even more worried.

He sat there in thought for a good few hours, trying to think of the next step he should take. He was so deep in thought that he didn't notice the appearance of another person on the roof until that person put a hand on his shoulder. He quickly turned to look at who was there.

It was Taramyth.

"A-ah," Zirul stuttered, "Y-you surprised me, Lady Taramyth. Wh-what are you doing here?"

"Worry not," she smiled in a way only a fox could, "I am merely using astral projection. You seem unsettled, young one."

Zirul sighed.

"Yeah," He said, turning back to look over the city as Taramyth sat beside him, "I learned about Ranma Saotome's life just a few hours ago and I have to tell you, it's a miracle that she went to Nirvana at all."

"Yes, Lord Kelumarion mentioned something along those lines when I last talked to him," Taramyth said.

Zirul looked at her with a confused look.

"Saotome is destined to be a Leonal," Taramyth explained, "Kelumarion used the connection he has to all Leonals to peek into the girl's dreams last night. He mentioned the shear amount of chaos that revolved around her. He did his best to help her mind settle down, but he is not certain how long that will last."

"Oh," Zirul said, turning back to the city, "Yeah that makes sense. Ranma does fit the bill for a Leonal pretty well. I'm not sure how to continue, though. I know that I need to learn more about her and the people around her, but from what I've heard, their reaction to what Ranma's going through may be… extreme, maybe even violent."

"I am sure you will do fine," Taramyth reassured him, "But I'm afraid I have grave news, news you may have already predicted."

Zirul looked to her.

"It seems that the other outer planes have become aware to this place's existence," Taramyth said, her smile fading into a serious expression, "Many Vulpinals have reported that Asmodeus has already sent many devils to this place. Others report that the Abyss seems to be moving to do the same, followed swiftly by Abaddon."

"Great," Zirul groaned, "That's just what I needed. Demons and devils."

He stayed quiet for a small moment.

"What about the other realms?" He asked.

"Heaven has remained silent on the issue, but I doubt they will leave this world alone once they find evidence of infernal influence," Taramyth said, "The Azatas of Elysium has already confirmed that they are preparing to come to this world as well. Axis is, of course, not going to do anything and the people of The Boneyard seem content to watch, just as they always do."

* * *

A few hours later, Nodoka and Ranma sat in a taxi on their way back towards the Saotome house. Nodoka had decided to take a taxi instead of the train, which they had initially taken on the way towards the Tendo residence, to be able to have a bit more privacy.

Their visit at the Tendo's home had quickly spiraled away from what it had been intended. Ranma had remained mostly silent and unemotional and it had taken Akane a full twenty more minutes to rejoin the others inside the dining room and had also been somewhat silent, but had interjected her thoughts at times. Often she yelled and got angry but, to the Tendos surprise, Ranma failed to send a single retort or insult back at her. She had started to shake slightly at moments, but Nodoka seemed quite capable of stopping them.

Ranma had actually given the woman a small smile the first few times, but that had eventually stopped as Akane continued to loudly and angrily stuttered out several dozen rejections and objections throughout the rest of their visit, often at totally insignificant sentences and innocent questions. Eventually, Nodoka was forced to decide to leave the Tendo's earlier than initially intended.

Ranma was staring out the window.

"Are you alright, dear?" Nodoka asked seriously.

"You know the whole weird feeling I described in my dream?" Ranma said almost immediately, as if it had been on the tip of her tongue for hours now, "While we were in the Dojo, Akane noticed that I was wearing… ya know…. Anyway, she got angry and started yelling and… it happened again. And afterwards… I didn't…."

Ranma sighed and looked out the window before continuing.

"I don't think I can marry Akane," She said, "She doesn't trust me."

"So you don't love her," Nodoka supplied.

"Maybe, once," Ranma said, a small amount of sadness in her voice, "Doesn't really seem to matter anymore. She doesn't love me."

* * *

Genma lowered the newspaper when he heard a knock at the front door. It was not time for Nodoka and Ranma to be back from the Tendos, and they certainly wouldn't knock on the door; he was curious as to who it was..

Either way, it was a blessing in disguise. He had been incredibly bored at the house by himself. He had already read nearly all of the newspaper twice over and had recently resorted to reading the obituaries as to see if anyone he knew had bit the big one as of recent. He folded the paper, placed it on the table in front of him, and stood to answer the door.

Outside of the door was a red headed foreign boy; Chinese if Genma was correct. The boy wore a blue shirt with a pair of blue pants, a simple leather vest, and a rather fancy belt with several pouches attached to it. The boy's rather neutral expression soured somewhat when he looked at the elder Saotome, but the expression lasted for only a second before it went back to a fairly neutral one.

"Is this the Saotome residence?" The boy asked.

"It is," Genma asked, rather suspicious of the boy, "Can I help you?"

"I need to speak with Ranma Saotome," The boy said, "It is of the utmost importance."

"No," Genma said flatly, already starting to close the door, "He's not here right now."

"Ah," The boy said, seemingly deterred by Genma's rudeness. He turned to start to walk away, "Guess I'll have to wait to explain what happened to him while he was unconscious. So long then."

The door instantly opened again as he said this.

"Wait!" Genma yelled. He didn't see the boy's smirk as the older man grabbed his shoulder. The smirk was gone by the time Genma had turned him around, "What do you know about that?"

"I'm Xin Luang," The boy said, "And I pretty much know everything."

"How?" Genma asked, glaring at the boy.

"You'll have to wait until Ranma returns for me to explain," The boy said with a strait expression. This struck Genma as odd for some reason; reasons he wasn't totally sure of.

"Why?"

"Because the reason I am here is to explain it to Ranma herself, not you," The boy said with a great deal of aggravation in his voice and expression. Genma narrowed his eyes at the boy when he had called Ranma a girl. Xin narrowed his eyes back.

Genma the let go of the Xin and began to close the door again.

"Come back later," Genma said.

The boy sighed. He then looked up at Genma. His eyes suddenly shone with a strange light.

"Let me into the house," Xin said, "I would like to wait inside for Ranma to come home."

Genma froze. Something about the strange boy's words was almost… charming. He was suddenly filled with the desire to do as Xin had asked.

The door slowly opened and Genma stepped aside, allowing Xin to enter the home. As he entered the residence, a wicked smile came to the boys face.

* * *

It was only two or so hours later that Ranma and Nodoka arrived. Nodoka wore a look of fatigue and concern as she walked through the door. Ranma's expression was as blank and distant as it had been when they left the Tendo home.

Of course, both of them were somewhat startled by the scene playing out before them.

Genma, in panda form, was wearing a karate gi, a blonde curly wig, and a top hap and was doing some sort of… dance in the middle of the hall with various fruits and vegetables balanced on his nose, shoulders, elbows, and fingertips. It seemed as if he was singing some sort of song, but it was impossible to tell what he was saying as Panda's lack the proper anatomy to speak. In the background, they both could hear that the television in the living area was on and that someone was changing the channel quite rapidly.

It took a moment for the scene to sink in.

"G-Genma," Nodoka stammered out, catching the Panda's attention. He turned to her and whipped out a sign, causing two lemons and an onion to fall to the floor.

"Ah! You're back!" The sign read.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Nodoka asked.

"A strange boy came by looking for Ranma earlier." Genma signed, "He proposed doing a small dance in order to pass the time until you returned. Seemed like a good idea."

"I… see…," Nodoka said.

"He is waiting for us in the living room." Genma signed, dropping the rest of the food items to the floor (a grape fruit, a potato, two oranges, and a cantaloupe). "Let me go change and I'll meet you there."

Nodoka simply nodded as Genma walked off towards the kitchen. She glanced to Ranma to see what her reaction had been. Although noticeably confused, Ranma's expression was still somewhat distant and blank.

Nodoka sighed before leading Ranma into the living area. Once they entered the room, what they saw sitting cross legged on the floor was something neither of them expected.

Sitting only two or so feet away from the television was a rather small fox person with a crimson red coat of fur and a tail as long as he was tall. He simply sat there, staring at the television screen with an amazed look on his face.

"This thing is amazing, simply amazing," He said to himself, "It's like a public scrying pool that has everything you could ever want to watch in it. I have to tell Lady Teremyth about this. Imagine, being able to listen to and watch a band perform or an acting group perform a play from thousands of miles away. The others won't be able to get enough of it!"

Ranma, upon noticing the small fox man sitting there, immediately gasped, her blank expression instantly dispersing into one of complete shock. The fox's left ear flicked slightly at the sound, and he turned towards them.

"Ah!" Zirul said as he hopped up onto his feet, "You're finally back! It's good to see that you made the journey back from Nirvana in one piece, Ranma!"

* * *

 **(1)/** Okay, so I guess I should explain the different realms that came up in this chapter. I'll go through them in the order I mentioned them, with Nirvana at the end.

 **HELL** – Used to be called the Nine Realms of Hades, which I have to admit I like better than just "Hell". This is the first realm mentioned, the one ruled by the god-fiend Asmodeus. It's aligned to Law and, of course, Evil, and is the home plane of the devils. They're known to be liars, cheats, and dealmakers, often granting wishes at the cost of a person's soul. They're pretty much obsessed with anything that has to do with souls.

 **THE ABYSS** – The Abyss is the home of the demons and is aligned to evil and chaos. They're the typical run in, murder everything, destroy everything, and have a good time doing it sort of monsters. Oh, and they absolutely _hate_ the devils. The two planes have warred against each other since their creation.

 **ABADDON** – The last of the overtly evil realms, Abaddon is perhaps the most hostile of the outer realms and is only aligned with evil with no regard to either law or chaos. The Daemons that come from Abaddon don't really care about rampant destruction or souls, they're main motivation is the death of everything that is living.

 **HEAVEN** – Heaven is, of course, aligned with good, but is also aligned with law, and is where the Angels come from. They believe that law is good and good is law. They are good people, but can be difficult to work with if you don't agree with their ways. It's more technical name is the Mountain of Celestia, which, again, I like more that Heaven.

 **ELYSIUM** – Elysium is aligned with good and chaos and is the home plane of the Azatas. Mostly, they believe in freedom and go through great pains to insure that everyone possible has that right to freedom. They're much easier to get along with than the Angels.

 **AXIS** – A realm aligned only with law, Axis is home to the Axiomites, caretakers and architects, and the Inevitables, which are basically huge golems made to ensure and uphold true law within the multiverse. They are also notoriously hard to get along with. Inevitables can be found in nearly any plane, where they go to great lengths to search out those who wish to cheat the laws of the universe. They either force those involved to stop or kill them (and often they force them to stop by killing them)

 **THE BONEYARD** – Not entirely sure if the boneyard has an alignment, more than likely it is truly neutral. It mainly serves as the hub through which all souls pass through on their way to their respective destinations, overseen by Pharasma and her court.

 **NIRVANA** – The realm that Ranma was destined towards is aligned only with good, and is the home of the Agathions. It is unique in that creatures of other alignments often come here as their eternal resting place, but only if they were truly repentant of their evil ways at the moment of their death. It is a land where those who were noble and kind in their life can come to find rest and peace.

A person is sent to one of these realms dependent on their alignment at the time of death, determined by their actions and their general outlook on life. (IE. A Neutral Good character, like I decided Ranma would be, would go to Nirvana, a Lawful Good character would go to Heaven, a Chaotic Evil character would go to the Abyss, and a Lawful Evil character would go to hell.) That isn't to say that evil characters _like_ going to Hell, Abaddon, or the Abyss; they're typically tortured for eons before finally becoming one of the monsters that live there, at which time they remember very little of their mortal lives as most of those memories were brutally and painfully torn from their minds as a part of their torture. Of course, there are always exceptions for those who were exceptionally evil or powerful.

A mortal being's emotions can be quite useful in many fiendish rituals; there is a drug known as Liquid Pain (which is exactly what it sounds like) that is made by evil creatures torturing mortals. You have to cut yourself and then pour it over the wound in order to take the drug and, strangely, it gives you a feeling of mind numbing euphoria. It is also very addictive and very deadly if you overdose. I had a friend with a character that took a double dose and ended up in a blind, drugged stupor in which he was shot with a good number of arrows before having his blood drained completely by some crazy looking, demonic, blood red, floating vampire thing with spider legs.

Fun times!

Also, the reason why I decided Ranma would be Neutral Good. The is mostly due to the fact that, at least in Pathfinder terms, a Monk must be Lawfully aligned. This is due to the fact that monks, like all martial artists, rely on strict teachings and training regiments in order to turn their bodies into weapons; their monastic teachings require the character to be lawful. Yet obviously, Ranma is not lawful.

But neither is he truly chaotic. Yes, his life is undeniably chaotic, but Ranma himself has a code of honor that he follows with almost fevered reverence. That is a lawful trait. Ranma is also, however, willing to do anything to follow that code of honor, without caring if it was socially acceptable (or even legal); a decidedly chaotic trait. Seeing this, I decided that he would be Neutral Good, a fair balance between the two.

Besides, Nirvana fitted the bill for the type of place I wanted him to go to; the whole affect that Nirvana has on petitioners is unique and something I wanted to implement in the story. The fact that Zirul was not only born there but destined to go back to there is another reason why I chose it. And the fact that Ranma does meet the criteria for a Leonal pretty spot on: a warrior who would give anything to protect those that are defenseless.


End file.
